Pittsburgh 

A  Sketch  of 
Its  Early  Social  Life 


haries  W  Dahlintfer 

O 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  <W 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


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PITTSBURGH 

A  SKETCH  OF  ITS  EARLY 
SOCIAL  LIFE 


BY 


CHARLES  W.  DAHLINGER 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW  YORK  AND   LONDON 

fmtcfcerbocfcer  press 
1916 


COPYRIGHT,  1916 

BY 
CHARLES   W.    DAHLINGER 


Ube  fmfcfcerboclier  press,  Hew  l&orfc 


B.  McC.  D. 


PREFACE 

THE  purpose  of  these  pages  is  to  describe 
the  early  social  life  of  Pittsburgh.     The 
civilization  of  Pittsburgh  was  crude  and 
vigorous,  withal  prescient  of  future  culture  and 
refinement. 

The  place  sprang  into  prominence  after  the 
conclusion  of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  and 
upon  the  improvement  of  the  military  roads  laid 
out  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains  during  that 
struggle.  Pittsburgh  was  located  on  the  main 
highway  leading  to  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and 
was  the  principal  stopping  place  in  the  journey 
from  the  East  to  the  Louisiana  country.  The 
story  of  its  early  social  existence,  interwoven  as 
it  is  with  contemporaneous  national  events,  is  of 
more  than  local  interest. 


C.  W.  D. 


PITTSBURGH,  PENNSYLVANIA, 
November,  1915. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — THE  FORMATIVE  PERIOD  i 

II. — A  NEW  COUNTY  AND  A  NEW  BOROUGH      22 

III. — THE  MELTING  POT    ....       38 

IV. — LIFE  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  NINE- 
TEENTH CENTURY  ....       62 

V. — THE  SEAT  OF  POWER         ...      90 

VI. — PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  AFFAIRS    .         .114 

VII. — A  DUEL  AND  OTHER  MATTERS  .         .     138 

VIII. — ZADOK  CRAMER          .         .         .         .161 

IX. — THE  BROADENING  OF  CULTURE  .         .184 

INDEX 209 


Vll 


Pittsburgh 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FORMATIVE  PERIOD 

UNTIL  all  fear  of  Indian  troubles  had  ceased, 
there  was  practically  no  social  life  in 
American  pioneer  communities.  As  long 
as  marauding  bands  of  Indians  appeared  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  settlements,  the  laws  were  but  a 
loose  net  with  large  meshes,  thrown  out  from  the 
longer-settled  country  whence  they  emanated.  .  In 
the  numerous  interstices  the  laws  were  ineffective. 
In  this  Pittsburgh  was  no  exception.  The  nomi- 
nal reign  of  the  law  had  been  inaugurated  among 
the  settlers  in  Western  Pennsylvania  as  far  back 
as  1750,  when  the  Western  country  was  no  man's 
land,  and  the  rival  claims  set  up  by  France  and 
England  were  being  subjected  to  the  arbitrament 


2  Pittsburgh 

of  the  sword.  In  that  year  Cumberland  County 
was  formed.  It  was  the  sixth  county  in  the  prov- 
ince, and  comprised  all  the  territory  west  of  the 
Susquehanna  River,  and  north  and  west  of  York 
County — limitless  in  its  westerly  extent — between 
the  province  of  New  York  on  one  side,  and  the 
colony  of  Virginia  and  the  province  of  Maryland 
on  the  other.  The  first  county  seat  was  at 
Shippinsburg,  but  the  next  year,  when  Carlisle 
was  laid  out,  that  place  became  the  seat  of  justice. 
After  the  conclusion  of  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  and  the  establishment  of  English  supremacy, 
a  further  attempt  was  made  to  govern  Western 
Pennsylvania  by  lawful  methods,  and  in  1771 
Bedford  County  was  formed  out  of  Cumberland 
County.  It  included  nearly  all  of  the  western 
half  of  the  province.  With  Bedford,  the  new 
county  seat,  almost  a  hundred  miles  away,  the  law 
had  little  force  in  and  about  Pittsburgh.  To  bring 
the  law  nearer  home,  Westmoreland  County  was 
formed  in  1773,  from  Bedford  County,  and  em- 
braced all  of  the  province  west  of  "Laurel  Hill." 
The  county  seat  was  at  Hannastown,  three  miles 
northeast  of  the  present  borough  of  Greensburg. 


The  Formative  Period  3 

But  with  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  each  claiming 
jurisdiction  over  the  territory  an  uncertainty  pre- 
vailed which  caused  more  disregard  for  the  law. 
The  Revolutionary  War  came  on,  with  its  attend- 
ant Indian  troubles;  and  in  1794  the  western 
counties  revolted  against  the  national  government 
on  account  of  the  imposition  of  an  excise  on 
whisky.  It  was  only  after  the  last  uprising  had 
been  suppressed  that  the  laws  became  effective 
and  society  entered  upon  the  formative  stage. 

Culture  is  the  leading  element  in  the  formation 
and  progress  of  society,  and  is  the  result  of  mental 
activity.  The  most  potent  agency  in  the  produc- 
tion of  culture  is  education.  While  Pittsburgh 
was  a  frontier  village,  suffering  from  the  turbu- 
lence of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  Revolution,  and  the  chaos  of  the 
Whisky  Insurrection,  education  remained  at  a 
standstill.  The  men  who  had  blazed  trails  through 
the  trackless  forests,  and  buried  themselves  in 
the  woods  or  along  the  uncharted  rivers,  could 
usually  read  and  write,  but  there  were  no  means 
of  transmitting  these  boons  to  their  children.  The 
laws  of  the  province  made  no  provision  for  schools 


4  Pittsburgh 

on  its  frontiers.  In  December,  1761,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Pittsburgh .  subscribed  sixty  pounds  and 
engaged  a  schoolmaster  for  the  term  of  a  year  to 
instruct  their  children.  Similar  attempts  followed, 
but,  like  the  first  effort,  ended  in  failure.  There 
was  not  a  newspaper  in  all  the  Western  country; 
the  only  books  were  the  Bible  and  the  almanac. 
The  almanac  was  the  one  form  of  secular  litera- 
ture with  which  frontier  families  were  ordinarily 
familiar. 

In  1764,  while  Pittsburgh  was  a  trading  post, 
the  military  authorities  caused  a  plan  of  the  village 
to  be  made  by  Colonel  John  Campbell.  It  con- 
sisted of  four  blocks,  and  was  bounded  by  Water 
Street,  Second  Street,  now  Second  Avenue,  Mar- 
ket and  Ferry  Streets,  and  was  intersected  by 
Chancery  Lane.  The  lots  faced  in  the  direction  of 
Water  Street.  In  this  plan  most  of  the  houses 
were  built. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  the  proprie- 
tors of  the  province  were  the  cousins,  John  Penn, 
Jr.,  and  John  Penn,  both  grandsons  of  William 
Penn,  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania.  Being  royal- 
ists, they  had  been  divested  of  the  title  to  all  their 


The  Formative  Period  3 

lands  in  Pennsylvania,  except  to  a  few  tracts  which 
had  been  surveyed,  called  manors,  one  of  them 
being  "Pittsburgh,"  in  which  was  included  the 
village  of  that  name.  In  1784  the  Penns  con- 
ceived the  design  of  selling  land  in  the  village  of 
Pittsburgh.  The  first  sale  was  made  in  January, 
when  an  agreement  to  sell  was  entered  into  with 
Major  Isaac  Craig  and  Colonel  Stephen  Bayard, 
for  about  three  acres,  located  "between  Fort  Pitt 
and  the  Allegheny  River."  The  Penns  deter- 
mined to  lay  out  a  town  according  to  a  plan  of 
their  own,  and  on  April  22,  1784,  Tench  Francis, 
their  .agent,  employed  George  Woods,  an  engineer 
living  at  Bedford,  to  do  the  work.  The  plan  was 
completed  in  a  few  months,  and  included  within 
its  boundaries  all  the  land  in  the  triangle  between 
the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela  Rivers,  extending 
to  Grant  Street  and  Washington,  now  Eleventh, 
Street.  Campbell's  plan  was  adopted  unchanged; 
Tench  Francis  approved  the  new  plan  and  began 
to  sell  lots.  Major  Craig  and  Colonel  Bayard  ac- 
cepted, in  lieu  of  the  acreage  purchased  by  them, 
a  deed  for  thirty-two  lots  in  this  plan. 

Until  this  time,  the  title  of  the  occupants  of 


6  Pittsburgh 

lands  included  in  the  plan  had  been  by  sufferance 
only.  The  earlier  Penns  were  reputed  to  have 
treated  the  Indians,  the  original  proprietors  of 
Pennsylvania,  with  consideration.  In  the  same 
manner  John  Penn,  Jr.,  and  John  Penn  dealt  with 
the  persons  who  made  improvements  on  the  lands 
to  which  they  had  no  title.  They  permitted  the 
settlement  on  the  assumption  that  the  settlers 
would  afterwards  buy  the  land;  and  they  gave 
them  a  preference.  Also  when  litigation  arose, 
caused  by  the  schemes  of  land  speculators  intent 
on  securing  the  fruits  of  the  enterprise  and  industry 
of  squatters  on  the  Penn  lots,  the  courts  generally 
intervened  in  favor  of  the  occupants.1  The  sale 
was  advertised  near  and  far,  and  immigrants  and 
speculators  flocked  into  the  village.  They  came 
from  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  from  Virginia,  from 
Maryland,  from  New  York,  and  from  distant 
New  England.  The  pack  trains  carrying  mer- 
chandise and  household  effects  into  Pittsburgh 
became  ever  longer  and  more  numerous. 

Once  that  the  tide  of  emigration  had  set  in 
toward  the  West,  it  grew  constantly  in  volume. 
The  roads  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains  were 


The  Formative  Period  7 

improved,  and  wheeled  conveyances  no  longer 
attracted  the  curious  attention  that  greeted  Dr. 
Johann  David  Schoepf  when  he  arrived  in  Pitts- 
burgh in  1783,  in  the  cariole  in  which  he  had  crossed 
the  mountains,  an  achievement  which  until  then 
had  not  been  considered  possible. 2  The  monoto- 
nous hoof -beats  of  the  pack  horses  became  less 
frequent,  and  great  covered  wagons,  drawn  by 
four  horses,  harnessed  two  abreast,  came  rumbling 
into  the  village.  But  not  all  the  people  or  all 
the  goods  remained  in  Pittsburgh.  There  were 
still  other  and  newer  Eldorados,  farther  away  to 
the  west  and  the  south,  and  these  lands  of  milk 
and  honey  were  the  Meccas  of  many  of  the  adven- 
turers.  Pittsburgh  was  the  depository  of  the 
merchandise  sent  out  from  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more, intended  for  the  western  and  southern 
country  and  for  the  numerous  settlements  that 
were  springing  up  along  the  Monongahela  and 
Allegheny  Rivers.3  From  Pittsburgh  trading 
boats  laden  with  merchandise  were  floated  down 
the  Ohio  River,  stopping  at  the  towns  on  its  banks 
to  vend  the  articles  which  they  carried.4  Coal 
was  cheap  and  emigrant  and  trading  boats  carried 


8  Pittsburgh 

it  as  ballast.5  In  Pittsburgh  the  immigrants 
lingered,  purchasing  supplies,  and  gathering  in- 
formation about  the  country  beyond.  Some  pro- 
ceeded overland.  Others  sold  the  vehicles  in 
which  they  had  come,  and  continued  the  journey 
down  the  Ohio  River,  in  Kentucky  flat  or  family 
boats,  in  keel  boats,  arks,  and  barges.  The  con- 
struction and  equipping  of  boats  became  an 
industry  of  moment  in  Pittsburgh. 

The  last  menace  from  the  Indians  who  owned 
and  occupied  the  country  north  of  the  Allegheny 
and  Ohio  Rivers  was  removed  on  October  21, 
1784,  when  the  treaty  with  the  Six  Nations  was 
concluded  at  Fort  Stanwix,  by  which  all  the  Indian 
lands  in  Pennsylvania  except  a  tract  bordering 
on  Lake  Erie  were  ceded  to  the  State.  This  vast 
territory  was  now  opened  for  settlement,  and 
resulted  in  more  immigrants  passing  through 
Pittsburgh.  The  northerly  boundary  of  the  vil- 
lage ceased  to  be  the  border  line  of  civilization. 
The  isolation  of  the  place  became  less  pronounced. 
The  immigrants  who  remained  in  Pittsburgh  were 
generally  of  a  sturdy  class,  and  were  young  and 
energetic.  Among  them  were  former  Revolu- 


The  Formative  Period  9 

tionary  officers  and  soldiers.  They  engaged  in 
trade,  and  as  an  adjunct  of  this  business  specu- 
lated in  lands  in  the  county,  or  bought  and  sold 
town  lots.  A  few  took  up  tavern  keeping.  From 
the  brief  notes  left  by  Lewis  Brantz  who  stopped 
over  in  Pittsburgh  in  1785,  while  on  a  journey 
from  Baltimore  to  the  Western  country,  it  appears 
that  at  this  time  Fort  Pitt  was  still  garrisoned 
by  a  small  force  of  soldiers ;  that  the  inhabitants 
lived  chiefly  by  traffic,  and  by  entertaining  trav- 
ellers; and  that  there  were  but  few  mechanics  in 
the  village. 6  The  extent  of  the  population  can  be 
conjectured,  when  it  is  known  that  in  1786  there 
were  in  Pittsburgh  only  thirty-six  log  buildings, 
one  of  stone,  and  one  of  frame;  and  that  there 
were  six  stores. 7 

Religion  was  long  dormant  on  the  frontier. 
In  1761  and  1762,  when  the  first  school  was  in 
operation  in  Pittsburgh,  the  schoolmaster  con- 
ducted religious  services  on  Sundays  to  a  small 
congregation.  Although  under  the  direction  of  a 
Presbyterian,  the  services  consisted  in  reading  the 
Prayers  and  the  Litany  from  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer. 8  During  the  military  occupation,  a  chap- 


io  Pittsburgh 

lain  was  occasionally  stationed  at  Fort  Pitt  around 
which  the  houses  clustered.  From  time  to  time 
missionaries  came  and  tarried  a  few  days  or  weeks, 
and  went  their  way  again.  The  long  intervals 
between  the  religious  services  were  periods  of  in- 
difference. An  awakening  came  at  last,  and  the 
religious  teachings  of  early  life  reasserted  them- 
selves, and  the  settlers  sought  means  to  re-estab- 
lish a  spiritual  life  in  their  midst.  The  Germans 
and  Swiss-Germans  of  the  Protestant  Evangelical 
and  Protestant  Reformed  faiths  jointly  organized 
a  German  church  in  1782;  and  the  Presbyterians 
formed  a  church  organization  two  years  later. 

The  first  pastor  of  the  German  church  was  the 
Rev.  Johann  Wilhelm  Weber,  who  was  sent  out 
by  the  German  Reformed  Synod  at  Reading.9 
He  had  left  his  charge  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania 
because  the  congregation  which  he  served  had 
not  been  as  enthusiastic  in  its  support  of  the  Revo- 
lution as  he  deemed  proper. x  °  The  services  were 
held  in  a  log  building  situated  at  what  is  now  the 
corner  of  Wood  Street  and  Diamond  Alley.11 
Besides  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the  Pittsburgh 
church,  there  were  three  other  congregations  on 


The  Formative  Period  n 

Weber's  circuit,  which  extended  fifty  miles  east 
of  Pittsburgh.  When  he  came  West  in  Sep- 
tember, 1782,  the  Revolutionary  War  was  still 
in  progress;  Hannastown  had  been  burned  by 
the  British  and  Indians  in  the  preceding  July; 
hostile  Indians  and  white  outlaws  continually 
beset  his  path.  He  was  a  soldier  of  the  Cross, 
but  he  was  also  ready  to  fight  worldly  battles. 
He  went  about  the  country  armed  not  only  with 
the  Bible,  but  with  a  loaded  rifle, r  2  and  was  pre- 
pared to  battle  with  physical  enemies,  as  well  as 
with  the  devil. 

Hardly  had  the  churches  come  into  existence 
when  another  organization  was  formed  whose 
origin  is  claimed  to  be  shrouded  in  the  mists  of 
antiquity.  In  the  American  history  of  the  order, 
the  membership  included  many  of  the  greatest 
and  best  known  men  in  the  country.  On  Decem- 
ber 27,  1785,  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Pennsylvania, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  granted  a  charter  to 
certain  freemasons  resident  in  Pittsburgh,  which 
was  designated  as  "Lodge  No.  45  of  Ancient  York 
Masons."  It  was  not  only  the  first  masonic  lodge 
in  Pittsburgh,  but  the  first  in  the  Western  coun- 


12  Pittsburgh 

try.13  Almost  from  the  beginning,  Lodge  No.  45 
was  the  most  influential  social  organization  in 
the  village.  Nearly  all  the  leading  citizens  were 
members.  Toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  place  of  meeting  was  in  the  tavern 
of  William  Morrow,  at  the  "Sign  of  the  Green 
Tree,"  on  Water  Street,  two  doors  above  Market 
Street. 1 4  Although  not  a  strictly  religious  organi- 
zation, the  order  carefully  observed  certain  Church 
holidays.  St.  John  the  Baptist's  day  and  St. 
John  the  Evangelist's  day  were  never  allowed  to 
pass  without  a  celebration.  Every  year  in  June, 
on  St.  John  the  Baptist's  day,  Lodge  No.  45  met 
at  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  and,  after  the  ser- 
vices in  the  lodge  were  over,  paraded  the  streets. 
The  members  walked  two  abreast.  Dressed  in 
their  best  clothes,  with  cocked  hats,  long  coats, 
knee-breeches,  and  buckled  shoes,  wearing  the 
aprons  of  the  craft,  they  marched  "in  ancient 
order."  The  sword  bearer  was  in  advance;  the 
officers  wore  embroidered  collars,  from  which 
depended  their  emblems  of  office;  the  wardens 
carried  their  truncheons;  the  deacons,  their  staves. 
The  Bible,  surmounted  by  a  compass  and  a  square, 


The  Formative  Period  13 

on  a  velvet  cushion,  was  borne  along.  When  the 
Rev.  Robert  Steele  came  to  preach  in  the  Presby- 
terian Meeting  House,  the  march  was  from  the 
lodge  room  to  the  church.  Here  Mr.  Steele 
preached  a  sermon  to  the  brethren,  after  which 
they  dined  together  at  Thomas  Ferree's  tavern 
at  the  "Sign  of  the  Black  Bear,"1*  or  at  the  "Sign 
of  the  Green  Tree."16  St.  John  the  Evangelist's 
day  was  observed  with  no  less  circumstance. 
In  the  morning  the  officers  of  the  lodge  were  in- 
stalled. Addresses  of  a  semi-religious  or  philo- 
sophic character,  eulogistic  of  masonry,  were 
delivered  by  competent  members  or  visitors. 
This  ceremony  was  followed  in  the  afternoon  by 
a  dinner  either  at  some  tavern  or  at  the  home  of 
a  member.  Dinners  seemed  to  be  a  concomitant 
part  of  all  masonic  ceremonies. 

By  the  time  that  the  last  quarter  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  was  well  under  way,  the  hunters 
and  trappers  had  left  for  more  prolific  hunting 
grounds.  The  Indian  traders  with  their  lax 
morals  I?  had  disappeared  forever  in  the  direction 
of  the  setting  sun,  along  with  the  Indians  with 
whom  they  bartered.  If  any  traders  remained, 


14  Pittsburgh 

they  conformed  to  the  precepts  of  a  higher  civili- 
zation. Only  a  scattered  few  of  the  red  men  con- 
tinued to  dwell  in  the  hills  surrounding  the  village, 
or  along  the  rivers,  eking  out  a  scant  livelihood 
by  selling  game  in  the  town.18 

A  different  moral  atmosphere  appeared :  schools 
of  a  permanent  character  were  established;  the 
German  church  conducted  a  school  which  was 
taught  by  the  pastor.  Secular  books  were  now 
in  the  households  of  the  more  intelligent;  a  few 
of  the  wealthier  families  had  small  libraries,  and 
books  were  sold  in  the  town.  On  August  26,  1786, 
Wilson  and  Wallace  advertised  "testaments, 
Bibles,  spelling  books,  and  primers"  for  sale.19 
Copies  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  news- 
papers were  brought  by  travellers,  and  received 
by  private  arrangement. 

In  July,  1786,  John  Scull  and  Joseph  Hall, 
two  young  men  of  more  than  ordinary  daring,  came 
from  Philadelphia  and  established  a  weekly  news- 
paper called  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  which  was  the 
first  newspaper  published  in  the  country  west  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains.  The  partnership  lasted  only 
a  few  months,  Hall  dying  on  November  10,  1786, 


The  Formative  Period  15 

at  the  early  age  of  twenty- two  years;20  and  in  the 
following  month,  John  Boyd,  also  of  Philadelphia, 
purchased  Hall's  interest  and  became  the  partner 
of  Scull.21  For  many  years  money  was  scarcely 
seen  in  Pittsburgh  in  commercial  transactions, 
everything  being  consummated  in  trade.  A  few 
months  after  its  establishment,  the  Pittsburgh 
Gazette  gave  notice  to  all  persons  residing  in  the 
country  that  it  would  receive  country  produce 
in  payment  of  subscriptions  to  the  paper.22 

The  next  year  there  were  printed,  and  kept  for 
sale  at  the  office  of  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  spelling 
books,  and  The  A.B.  C.  with  the  Shorter  Catechism, 
to  which  are  Added  Some  Short  and  Easy  Questions 
or  Children;  secular  instruction  was  combined  with 
religious.23  The  Pittsburgh  Gazette  also  conducted 
an  emporium  where  other  reading  matter  might 
be  purchased.  In  the  issue  for  June  16,  1787,  an 
illuminating  notice  appeared:  "At  the  printing 
office,  Pittsburgh,  may  be  had  the  laws  of  this 
State,  passed  between  the  thirtieth  of  September, 
1775,  and  the  Revolution;  New  Testaments; 
Dilworth's  Spelling  Books ;  New  England  Primers, 
with  Catechism;  Westminster  Shorter  Catechism; 


16  Pittsburgh 

A  Journey  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York  by 
Way  of  Burlington  and  South  Amboy,  by  Robert 
Slenner,  Stocking  Weaver;  .  .  .  also  a  few  books 
for  the  learner  of  the  French  language. " 

In  November,  1787,  there  was  announced  as 
being  in  press  at  the  office  of  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette 
the  Pittsburgh  Almanac  or  Western  Ephemeris 
for  2788. *4  The  same  year  that  the  almanac  ap- 
peared, John  Boyd  attempted  the  establishment 
of  a  circulating  library.  In  his  announcement 
on  July  26th,2 s  he  declared  that  the  library 
would  be  opened  as  soon  as  a  hundred  subscribers 
were  secured;  and  that  it  would  consist  of  five 
hundred  well  chosen  books.  Subscriptions  were  to 
be  received  at  the  office  of  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette. 
Boyd  committed  suicide  in  the  early  part  of 
August  by  hanging  himself  to  a  tree  on  the  hill 
in  the  town,  which  has  ever  since  borne  his  name, 
and  Scull  became  the  sole  owner  of  the  Pittsburgh 
Gazette.  This  act  of  self-destruction,  and  the  fact 
that  Boyd's  name  as  owner  appeared  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh Gazette  for  the  last  time  on  August  2d, 
would  indicate  that  the  library  was  never  estab- 
lished. Perhaps  it  was  the  anticipated  failure  of 


The  Formative  Period  17 

the  enterprise  that  prompted  Boyd  to  commit 
suicide. 

The  door  to  higher  education  was  opened  on 
February  28,  1787,  when  the  Pittsburgh  Academy 
was  incorporated  by  an  Act  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly. This  was  the  germ  which  has  since  devel- 
oped into  the  University  of  Pittsburgh.  Another 
step  which  tended  to  the  material  and  mental 
advancement  of  the  place,  was  the  inauguration 
of  a  movement  for  communicating  regularly  with 
the  outside  world.  On  September  30,  1786,  a 
post  route  was  established  with  Philadelphia,26 
and  the  next  year  the  general  government  entered 
into  a  contract  for  carrying  the  mails  between 
Pittsburgh  and  that  city.27  Almost  immediately 
afterward  a  post  office  was  established  in  Pitts- 
burgh with  Scull  as  postmaster,  and  a  regular 
post  between  the  village  and  Philadelphia  and 
the  East  was  opened  on  July  19,  I788.28  These 
events  constituted  another  milestone  in  the  pro- 
gress of  Pittsburgh. 

Another  instrument  in  the  advancement  of  the 
infant  community  was  the  Mechanical  Society 
which  came  into  existence  in  1788.  On  the  twenty- 


1 8  Pittsburgh 

second  of  March,  the  following  unique  advertise- 
ment appeared  in  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette :  "Society 
was  the  primeval  desire  of  our  first  and  great  an- 
cestor Adam;  the  same  order  for  that  blessing 
seems  to  inhabit  more  or  less  the  whole  race.  To 
encourage  this  it  seems  to  be  the  earnest  wish  of  a 
few  of  the  mechanics  in  Pittsburgh,  to  have  a  gen- 
eral meeting  on  Monday  the  24th  inst.,  at  six  P.M., 
at  the  house  of  Andrew  Watson,  tavern  keeper,  to 
settle  on  a  plan  for  a  well  regulated  society  for  the 
purpose.  This  public  method  is  taken  to  invite 
the  reputable  tradesmen  of  this  place  to  be  punc- 
tual to  their  assignation." 

Andrew  Watson's  tavern  was  in  the  log  building, 
at  the  northeast  corner  of  Market  and  Front 
Streets.  Front  Street  was  afterward  called  First 
Street,  and  is  now  First  Avenue.  At  that  time 
all  the  highways  running  parallel  with  the  Monon- 
gahela  River  were  designated  as  streets,  as  they 
are  now  called  avenues.  The  object  of  the  Me- 
chanical Society  was  the  improvement  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  workpeople,  to  induce  workpeople  to 
settle  in  the  town,  and  to  procure  manufactories 
to  be  established  there. 


The  Formative  Period  19 

The  society  was  more  than  local  in  character, 
similar  societies  being  in  existence  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  in  the  neighboring  village  of 
Washington.  At  a  later  day  the  Mechanical 
Society  of  Pittsburgh  produced  plays,  some  of 
which  were  given  in  the  grand-jury  room  in  the 
upper  story  of  the  new  court  house.  The  society 
also  had  connected  with  it  a  circulating  library, 
a  cabinet  of  curiosities,  and  a  chemical  laboratory. 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  I 

1  James  Fearnly  v.  Patrick  Murphy,  Addison's  Reports, 
Washington,  1800,  p.  22;  John  Marie  v.  Samuel  Semple, 
ibid.,  p.  215. 

*  JOHANN  DAVID  SCHOEPF.     Reise  durch  einige  der  mittlern 

und    siidlichen    vereinigten    nordamerikanischen    Staaten, 
Erlangen,  1788,  vol.  i.,  p.  370. 

*  F.  A.  MICHAUX.     Travels  to  the  Westward  of  the  Alleghany 

Mountains,  London,  1805,  p.  37. 

*  THADDEUS  MASON  HARRIS.     The  Journal  of  a  Tour,  Boston, 

1805,  p.  42. 

s  "A  Sketch  of  Pittsburgh."  The  Literary  Magazine,  Phila- 
delphia, 1806,  p.  253. 

6  LEWIS  BRANTZ.  "Memoranda  of  a  Journey  in  the  West- 
erly Parts  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  1785."  In 
Henry  R.  Schoolcraft's  Indian  Antiquities,  Philadelphia, 
Part  III.,  pp.  335-351. 

i  Niles'  Weekly  Register,  Baltimore,  August  19,  1826,  vol.  xxx., 
p.  436. 

8  JAMES  KENNEY.  The  Historical  Magazine,  New  York,  1858, 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  273-274. 

»  REV.  CYRUS  CORT,  D.D.  Historical  Sermon  in  the  First 
Reformed  Church  of  Greensburgh,  Pennsylvania,  October 

13,  1907,  PP-  11-12. 

10  JOHANN  DAVID  SCHOEPF.     Reise  durch  einige  der  mittlern 

und    sudlichen     vereinigten    nordamerikanischen    Staaten, 
Erlangen,"  1788,  vol.  i.,  p.  247. ' 

11  CARL   AUGUST   Voss.     Gedenkschrift    zur    Einhundertfuen- 

fundzvoanzig-jaehrigen  Jubel-Feier,    Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  1907, 
P.  14- 

20 


The  Formative  Period  21 

"  REV.  CYRUS  CORT,  D.D.  Historical  Sermon  in  the  First 
Reformed  Church  of  Greensburgh,  Pennsylvania,  October 
13.  1907,  p.  20. 

"    SAMUEL  HARPER.    "Seniority  of  Lodge  No.  45,"  History  of 
Lodge  No.   45,   Free  and  Accepted  Masons,    1785-1910, 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  pp.  97-109. 
*4    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  15,  1799. 
Js     Tree  of  Liberty,  June  6,  1801. 
16     Tree  of  Liberty,  June  12,  1802. 
f*    Diary  of  David  McClure,  New  York,  1899,  p.  53. 
18    PERRIN  DuLAC.     Voyage  dans  les  Deux  Louisianes,  Lyon, 

An  xiii-(i8o5),  p.  132. 
x»    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  26,  1786. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  18,  1786. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  6,  1787. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  2,  1786. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  5,  1787. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  17,  1787. 
«    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  July  26,  1788. 
96    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  30,  1786. 
"i    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  March  24,  1787. 
98    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  July  19,  1788. 


CHAPTER  II 

A  NEW  COUNTY  AND  A  NEW  BOROUGH 

THE  constantly  rising  tide  of  immigration  re- 
quired more  territorial  subdivisions  in  the 
western  part  of  the  State.  Westmoreland 
County  had  been  reduced  in  size  on  March  28, 
1781,  by  the  creation  of  Washington  County,  but 
was  still  inordinately  large.  The  clamor  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Pittsburgh  for  a  separate  county 
was  heeded  at  last,  and  on  September  24,  1788, 
Allegheny  County  was  formed  out  of  Westmore- 
land and  Washington  Counties.  To  the  new 
county  was  added  on  September  17,  1789,  other 
territory  taken  from  Washington  County.  In 
March,  1792,  the  State  purchased  from  the  United 
States  the  tract  of  land  adjoining  Lake  Erie,  con- 
sisting of  two  hundred  and  two  thousand  acres, 
which  the  national  government  had  recently  ac- 

22 


quired  from  the  Indians.  This  was  added  to 
Allegheny  County  on  April  3,  1792.  The  county 
then  extended  northerly  to  the  line  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  the  border  of  Lake  Erie,  and 
westerly  to  the  present  State  of  Ohio.1  On 
March  12,  1800,  the  county  was  reduced  by  the 
creation  of  Beaver,  Butler,  Mercer,  Crawford, 
Erie,  Warren,  Venango,  and  Armstrong  Counties, 
the  area  of  these  counties  being  practically  all 
taken  from  Allegheny  County.  By  Act  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  March  12,  1803,  a  small 
part  of  Allegheny  County  was  added  to  Indiana 
County,  and  Allegheny  County  was  reduced  to 
its  present  form  and  dimensions.2 

On  the  formation  of  Allegheny  County,  Pitts- 
burgh became  the  county  seat.  The  county  was 
divided  into  townships,  Pittsburgh  being  located 
in  Pitt  Township.  Embraced  in  Pitt  Township 
was  all  the  territory  between  the  Monongahela 
and  Allegheny  Rivers,  as  far  east  as  Turtle  Creek 
on  the  Monongahela  River,  and  Plum  Creek  on 
the  Allegheny  River,  and  all  of  the  county  north 
of  the  Allegheny  and  Ohio  Rivers.  With  the 
growth  of  prosperity  in  the  county,  petty  offenses 


24  Pittsburgh 

became  more  numerous,  and  a  movement  was  be- 
gun for  the  erection  of  a  jail  in  Pittsburgh. 3 

Next  to  the  establishment  of  the  Pittsburgh 
Gazette,  the  publication  and  sale  of  books,  and  the 
opening  of  the  post  route  to  the  eastern  country, 
the  most  important  event  in  the  early  social  ad- 
vancement of  Pittsburgh  was  the  passage  of  an 
Act  by  the  General  Assembly,  on  April  22, 1794,  in- 
corporating the  place  into  a  borough.  The  town- 
ship laws  under  which  Pittsburgh  had  been 
administered  were  crude  and  intended  only  for 
agricultural  and  wild  lands,  and  were  inapplicable 
to  the  development  of  a  town.  Under  the  code  of 
laws  which  it  now  obtained,  it  possessed  functions 
suitable  to  the  character  which  it  assumed,  and 
could  perform  acts  leading  to  its  material  and 
social  progress.  It  was  given  the  power  to  open 
streets,  to  regulate  and  keep  streets  in  order,  to 
conduct  markets,  to  abate  nuisances,  and  to  levy 
taxes.4 

Before  the  incorporation  of  the  borough,  various 
steps  had  been  taken  in  anticipation  of  that  event. 
The  Pittsburgh  Fire  Company  was  organized  in 
1793,  with  an  engine  house3  and  a  hand  engine 


A  New  County  and  a  New  Borough  25 

brought  from  Philadelphia.  A  new  era  in  trans- 
portation was  inaugurated  on  Monday,  October 
21,  1793,  by  the  establishment  of  a  packet  line  on 
the  Ohio  River,  between  Pittsburgh  and  Cincin- 
nati, with  boats  "sailing"  bi-weekly.  The  safety 
of  the  passengers  from  attacks  by  hostile  Indians 
infesting  the  Ohio  Valley,  was  assured.  The  boats 
were  bullet-proof,  and  were  armed  with  small 
cannon  carrying  pound  balls;  muskets  and  amu- 
nition  were  provided,  and  from  convenient  port- 
holes, passengers  and  crew  could  fire  on  the 
enemy.6 

One  of  the  first  measures  enacted  after  Pitts- 
burgh was  incorporated,  was  that  to  prohibit  hogs 
running  at  large. 7  The  dissatisfaction  occasioned 
by  the  imposition  of  the  excise  on  whisky,  had 
caused  a  spirit  of  lawlessness  to  spring  up  in  the 
country  about  Pittsburgh.  When  this  element 
appeared  in  the  town,  they  were  disposed,  particu- 
larly when  inflamed  with  whisky,  to  show  their 
resentment  toward  the  inhabitants,  whom  they 
regarded  as  being  unfriendly  to  the  Insurgent 
cause,  by  galloping  armed  through  the  streets, 
firing  their  pieces  as  they  sped  by,  to  the  terror  of 


26  Pittsburgh 

the  townspeople.    This  was  now  made  an  offense 
punishable  by  a  fine  of  five  shillings. 8 

Literary  culture  was  hardly  to  be  expected  on 
the  frontier,  yet  a  gentleman  resided  in  Pittsburgh 
who  made  some  pretension  in  that  direction. 
Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge  was  the  leading  lawyer 
of  the  town,  and  in  addition  to  his  other  activities, 
was  an  author  of  note.  Before  coming  to  Pitts- 
burgh he  had,  jointly  with  Philip  Freneau,  written 
a  volume  of  poetry  entitled,  The  Rising  Glory  of 
America,  and  had  himself  written  a  play  called 
The  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  While  a  resident  in 
Pittsburgh  he  contributed  many  articles  to  the 
Pittsburgh  Gazette.  His  title  to  literary  fame, 
however,  results  mainly  from  the  political  satire 
that  he  wrote,  which  in  its  day  created  a  sensa- 
tion. It  was  called  Modern  Chivalry,  and  as  origi- 
nally published  was  a  small  affair.  Only  one 
of  the  four  volumes  into  which  it  was  divided 
was  printed  in  Pittsburgh,  the  first,  second, 
and  fourth  being  published  in  Philadelphia.  The 
third  volume  came  out  in  Pittsburgh,  in  1793, 
and  was  printed  by  Scull,  and  was  the  first  book 
published  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  The 


A  New  County  and  a  New  Borough   27 

work,  as  afterward  rewritten  and  enlarged,  ran 
through  more  than  half  a  dozen  editions. 

The  interest  in  books  increased.  In  1793, 
William  Semple  began  selling  "quarto  pocket  and 
school  Bibles,  spelling  books,  primers,  dictiona- 
ries, English  and  Dutch  almanacs,  with  an  assort- 
ment of  religious,  historical,  and  novel  books."9 
"Novel  books"  was  no  doubt  meant  to  indicate 
novels.  In  1798  the  town  became  possessed  of  a 
store  devoted  exclusively  to  literature.  It  was 
conducted  in  a  wing  of  the  house  owned  and 
partially  occupied  by  Brackenridge  on  Market 
Street. 

John  C.  Gilkison  had  been  a  law  student  in 
Brackenridge's  office,  and  had  tutored  his  son. 
Abandoning  the  idea  of  becoming  a  lawyer,  he 
began  with  the  aid  of  Brackenridge,  to  sell  books 
as  a  business.10  In  his  announcement  to  the 
public  his  plans  were  outlined:11  "John  C.  Gil- 
kison has  just  opened  a  small  book  and  stationery 
store.  ...  He  has  a  variety  of  books  for  sale, 
school  books  especially,  an  assortment  of  which 
he  means  to  increase,  and  keep  up  as  encourage- 
ment may  enable  him;  he  has  also  some  books  of 


28  Pittsburgh 

general  instruction  and  amusement,  which  he  will 
sell  or  lend  out  for  a  reasonable  time,  at  a  reason- 
able price." 

Changes  were  made  in  the  lines  of  the  townships 
at  an  early  day.  When  the  new  century  dawned, 
Pitt  Township  adjoined  Pittsburgh  on  the  east. 
East  of  Pitt  Township  and  between  the  Monon- 
gahela  and  Allegheny  Rivers  were  the  Townships 
of  Plum,  Versailles,  and  Elizabeth.  On  the  south 
side  of  the  Monongahela  River,  extending  from 
the  westerly  line  of  the  county  to  Chartiers  Creek, 
was  Moon  Township.  East  of  Chartiers  Creek, 
and  between  that  stream  and  Streets  Run  was  St. 
Clair  Township,  and  east  of  Streets  Run,  extend- 
ing along  the  Monongahela  River,  was  Mifflin 
Township,  which  ran  to  the  county  line.  Back  of 
Moon  Township  was  Fayette  Township.  North 
of  the  Allegheny  and  Ohio  Rivers  were  the  Town- 
ships of  Pine  and  Deer.  They  were  almost  equal 
in  area,  Pine  being  in  the  west,  and  Deer  in  the 
east,  the  dividing  line  being  near  the  mouth  of 
Pine  Creek  in  the  present  borough  of  Etna. 

The  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  Pittsburgh 
had  been  accumulating  money  for  a  decade.  In 


A  New  County  and  a  New  Borough   29 

the  East  money  was  the  medium  of  exchange,  and 
it  was  brought  to  the  village  by  immigrants  and 
travelers,  and  began  to  circulate  more  freely 
than  before.  In  addition  to  the  money  put  into 
circulation  by  the  immigrants,  the  United  States 
Government  had  expended  nearly  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars  on  the  expedition  which  was 
sent  out  to  suppress  the  Whisky  Insurrection. 
At  least  half  of  this  sum  was  spent  in  Pittsburgh 
and  its  immediate  vicinity,  partly  for  supplies 
and  partly  by  the  men  composing  the  army.  The 
expedition  was  also  the  means  of  advertising  the 
Western  country  in  the  East,  and  created  a  new 
interest  in  the  town.  A  considerable  influx  of 
new  immigrants  resulted.  With  the  growth  in 
population,  the  number  of  the  mercantile  estab- 
lishments increased.  Pittsburgh  became  more 
than  ever  the  metropolis  of  the  surrounding 
country. 

Ferries  made  intercourse  with  the  districts 
across  the  rivers  from  Pittsburgh  easy,  except 
perhaps  in  winter  when  ice  was  in  the  streams. 
Three  ferries  were  in  operation  on  the  Monon- 
gahela  River.  That  of  Ephraim  Jones  at  the 


30  Pittsburgh 

foot  of  Liberty  Street12  was  called  the  Lower 
Ferry.  A  short  distance  above  the  mouth  of 
Wood  Street  was  Robert  Henderson's  Ferry,  for- 
merly conducted  by  Jacob  Bausman.  This  was 
known  as  the  Middle  Ferry.  Isaac  Gregg's  Ferry, 
at  this  time  operated  by  Samuel  Emmett,13  also 
called  the  Upper  Ferry,  was  located  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  above  the  town,  at  the  head  of  the  Sand 
Bar.  Over  the  Allegheny  River,  connecting  St. 
Clair  Street  with  the  Franklin  Road,  now  Federal 
Street,  was  James  Robinson's  Ferry.  As  an  in- 
ducement to  settle  on  the  north  side  of  the  Alle- 
gheny River,  Robinson  advertised  that  "All 
persons  going  to  and  returning  from  sermon,  and 
all  funerals,  ferriage  free."14 

The  aspect  of  the  town  was  changing.  It  was 
no  longer  the  village  which  Lewis  Brantz  saw  on 
his  visit  in  1790,  when  he  painted  the  sketch 
which  is  the  first  pictorial  representation  of  the 
place  extant.15  In  the  old  Military  Plan  the 
ground  was  compactly  built  upon.  Outside  of 
this  plan  the  houses  were  sparse  and  few  in 
number,  and  cultivated  grounds  intervened. 
Thomas  Chapman  who  visited  Pittsburgh  in 


A  New  County  and  a  New  Borough   31 

1795,  reported  that  out  of  the  two  hundred 
houses  in  the  village,  one  hundred  and  fifty  were 
built  of  logs.16  They  were  mainly  of  rough-hewn 
logs,  only  an  occasional  house  being  of  sawed  logs. 
The  construction  of  log  houses  was  discontinued, 
the  new  houses  being  generally  frame.  Houses  of 
brick  began  to  be  erected,  the  brick  sold  at  the 
dismantling  of  Fort  Pitt  supplying  the  first  ma- 
terial for  the  purpose.  The  houses  built  of  brick 
taken  from  Fort  Pitt  were  characterized  by  the 
whiteness  of  the  brick  of  which  they  were  con- 
structed.17 Brickyards  were  established.  When 
Chapman  was  in  Pittsburgh,  there  were  two  brick- 
yards in  operation  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town.18 
With  their  advent  brick  houses  increased  rapidly. 
With  the  evolution  in  the  construction  of  the 
houses,  came  another  advance  conducive  to  both 
the  health  and  comfort  of  the  occupants.  While 
window  glass  was  being  brought  from  the  East, 
and  was  subject  to  the  hazard  of  the  long  and 
rough  haul  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  the 
windows  in  the  houses  were  few,  and  the  panes 
of  small  dimensions;  six  inches  in  width  by  eight 
inches  in  length  was  an  ordinary  size.  The 


32  Pittsburgh 

interior  of  the  houses  was  dark,  cheerless,  and 
damp.  In  the  spring  of  1797,  Albert  Gallatin,  in 
conjunction  with  his  brother-in-law,  James  W.  Nic- 
holson, and  two  Germans,  Christian  Kramer  and 
Baltzer  Kramer,  who  were  experienced  glass-blow- 
ers, began  making  window  glass  at  a  manufactory 
which  they  had  established  on  the  Monongahela 
River  at  New  Geneva  in  Fayette  County.19 
The  same  year  that  window  glass  was  first  pro- 
duced at  New  Geneva,  Colonel  James  O'Hara 
and  Major  Isaac  Craig  commenced  the  construc- 
tion of  a  glass  manufactory  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Monongahela  River,  opposite  Pittsburgh,  and 
made  their  first  window  glass  in  1800.  Both 
manufactories  produced  window  glass  larger  in 
size  than  that  brought  from  the  East,  O'Hara 
and  Craig's  glass  measuring  as  high  as  eighteen 
by  twenty-four  inches. 20  The  price  of  the  Western 
glass  was  lower  than  that  brought  across  the 
mountains.  With  cheaper  glass,  windows  became 
larger  and  more  numerous,  and  a  more  cheerful 
atmosphere  prevailed  in  the  houses. 

All  that  remained  of  Pittsburgh's  former  mili- 
tary importance  were  the  dry  ditch  and  old  ram- 


A  New  County  and  a  New  Borough  33 

parts  of  Fort  Pitt,21  in  the  westerly  extremity 
of  the  town,  together  with  some  of  the  barracks 
and  the  stone  powder  magazine,  and  Fort  Fayette 
near  the  northeasterly  limits,  now  used  solely 
as  a  military  storehouse.22  Not  a  trace  of  archi- 
tectural beauty  was  evident  in  the  houses.  They 
were  built  without  regularity  and  were  low  and 
plain.  In  one  block  were  one-  and  two-story  log 
and  frame  houses,  some  with  their  sides,  others 
with  their  gable  ends,  facing  the  street.  In  the 
next  square  there  was  a  brick  building  of  two  or 
possibly  three  stories  in  height;  the  rest  of  the 
area  was  covered  with  wooden  buildings  of  every 
size  and  description.  The  Lombardy  poplars  and 
weeping  willows  which  grew  along  the  streets23 
softened  the  aspect  of  the  houses  before  which 
they  were  planted.  The  scattered  houses  on  the 
sides  of  the  hills  which  commanded  the  town  on 
the  east24  were  more  attractive. 

It  was  forty  years  before  houses,  even  on  the 
leading  streets,  were  numbered.25  The  taverns 
and  many  of  the  stores,  instead  of  being  known  by 
the  number  of  their  location  on  the  street,  or  by 
the  name  of  the  owner,  were  recognized  by  their 


34  Pittsburgh 

signs,  which  contained  characteristic  pictures  or 
emblems.  The  signs  were  selected  because  asso- 
ciated with  them  was  some  well-known  sentiment; 
or  the  picture  represented  a  popular  hero.  In 
the  latter  category  was  the  "Sign  of  General 
Washington,"  conducted  by  Robert  Campbell, 
at  the  northeast  corner  of  Wood  Street  and  Dia- 
mond Alley.  Sometimes  the  signs  were  of  a  humor- 
ous character,  as  the  "Whale  and  the  Monkey" 
with  the  added  doggerel: 

"  Here  the  weary  may  rest, 

The  hungry  feed, 
And  those  who  thirst, 
May  quaff  the  best," 

displayed  by  D.  McLane26  when  he  conducted 
the  tavern  on  Water  Street,  afterward  known  as 
the  "  Sign  of  the  Green  Tree."  The  sign  was  hung 
either  on  the  front  of  the  house,  or  on  a  board 
attached  to  a  wooden  or  iron  arm  projecting  from 
the  building,  or  from  a  post  standing  before  it.  The 
last  was  the  manner  in  which  most  of  the  tavern 
signs  were  displayed.  This  continued  until  1816, 
when  all  projecting  or  hanging  signs  were  pro- 
hibited, except  to  taverns  where  stabling  and  other 


A  New  County  and  a  New  Borough  35 

accommodations  for  travelers  could  be  obtained. 
Only  taverns  located  at  street  corners  were  there- 
after permitted  to  have  signposts.27 

Not  a  street  was  paved,  not  even  the  footwalks, 
except  for  such  irregular  slabs  of  stone,  or  brick, 
or  planks  as  had  been  laid  down  by  the  owners 
of  adjoining  houses.  Major  Thomas  S.  Forman 
who  passed  through  Pittsburgh  in  December, 
1789,  related  that  the  town  was  the  muddiest 
place  he  was  ever  in.28  In  1800,  there  was  little 
improvement.  Samuel  Jones  was  the  first  Regis- 
ter and  Recorder  of  Allegheny  County,  and  held 
those  offices  almost  continuously  well  into  the 
nineteenth  century.  He  resided  in  Pittsburgh 
during  the  entire  period,  and  his  opportunities  for 
observation  were  unexcelled.  His  picture  of  the 
borough  in  1800  is  far  from  attractive.  "The 
streets,"  he  wrote,  were  "filled  with  hogs,  dogs, 
drays,  and  noisy  children."29  At  night  the  streets 
were  unlighted.  "A  solitary  lamp  twinkled  here 
and  there,  over  the  door  of  a  tavern,  or  on  a 
signpost,  whenever  the  moon  was  in  its  first  or 
last  quarter.  The  rest  of  the  town  was  involved 
in  primeval  darkness." 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  II 

1    LAURA  G.  SANFORD.     The  History  of  Erie  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia,  1862,  p.  60. 

*  JUDGE  J.  W.  P.  WHITE.     Allegheny  County,  its  Early  History 

and  Subsequent  Development,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,   1888,  pp. 
70-71. 

»    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  14,  1793. 
«    Act  of  April,  22,  1794;  Act  of  September  12,  1782. 

*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  2,  1793. 

6  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  23,  1793. 

i  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  31,  1794. 

8  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  21,  1794. 

»  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  2,  1793;  Ibid.,  June  28,  1794. 

10  H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.     Recollections  of  Persons  and  Places 

in  the  West,  Philadelphia,  1868,  pp.  44,  68. 

11  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  29,  1798. 

"  NEVILLE  B.  CRAIG.  The  History  of  Pittsburgh,  Pittsburgh, 
1851,  p.  295. 

13    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  30,  1802;  Ibid.,  April  16,  1802. 

x*    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  13,  1803. 

*s  LEWIS  BRANTZ.  "Memoranda  of  a  Journey  in  the  Wes- 
terly Parts  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  1785."  In 
Henry  R.  Schoolcraft's  Indian  Antiquities,  Philadelphia, 
Part  III,  pp.  335-351. 

16  THOMAS  CHAPMAN.  "Journal  of  a  Journey  through  the 
United  States,"  The  Historical  Magazine,  Morrisania, 
N.  Y.,  1869,  vol.  v.,  p.  359. 

«*     The  Navigator  for  1808,  Pittsburgh,  1808,  p.  33. 

x$  THOMAS  .CHAPMAN.  "Journal  of  a  Journey  through  the 
United  States,"  The  Historical  Magazine,  Morrisania, 
N.  Y.,  1869,  vol.  v.,  p.  359. 

36 


A  New  County  and  a  New  Borough  37 

19  SHERMAN  DAY.  Historical  Collections  of  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia,  p.  345;  REV.  WILLIAM  HANNA: 
History  of  Green  County,  Pa.,  1882,  pp.  247,  248. 

30    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  February  I,  1800. 

91  F.  CUMING.  Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country, 
in  1807-1809,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  225. 

32  The  Navigator  for  1808,  Pittsburgh,  1808,  p.  33. 

33  F.  CUMING.     Sketches   of  a  Tour  to  the  Western   Country, 

in  1807-1809,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  226. 
3*    F.  A.  MICHAUX.     Travels  to  the  Westward  of  the  Atteghany 

Mountains,  London,  1805,  p.  30. 
3«    Harris's  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny  Directory,  for  1839,  p.  3; 

ibid.,  for  1841. 

36  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  3,  1794. 

37  Ordinance  City  of  Pittsburgh,  September  7,  1816,  Pittsburgh 

Digest,  1849,  p.  238. 

38  MAJOR     SAMUEL     S.    FORMAN.    "Autobiography,"     The 

Historical   Magazine,   Morrisania,  N.  Y.,  1869,  vol.  vi., 

PP-  324-325- 

a»  S.  JONES.  Pittsburgh  in  the  Year  1826,  Pittsburgh,  1826, 
pp.  39-41- 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  MELTING  POT 

THE  population  of  Pittsburgh  was  composed 
of  various  nationalities;  those  speaking 
the  English  language  predominated.  In 
addition  to  the  Germans  and  Swiss-Germans, 
there  were  French  and  a  few  Italians.  The 
majority  of  the  English-speaking  inhabitants  were 
of  Irish  or  Scotch  birth,  or  immediate  extraction. 
Of  those  born  in  Ireland  or  Scotland,  some  were 
old  residents — so  considered  if  they  had  lived  in 
Pittsburgh  for  ten  years  or  more — while  others 
were  recent  immigrants.  The  Germans  and 
French  had  come  as  early  as  the  Irish  and  Scotch. 
The  Italians  were  later  arrivals.  There  was  also 
a  sprinkling  of  Welsh.  The  place  contained  a 
number  of  negroes,  nearly  all  of  whom  were  slaves, 
there  being  in  1800  sixty-four  negro  slaves  in 

38 


The  Melting  Pot  39 

Allegheny  County,  *  most  of  whom  were  in  Pitts- 
burgh and  the  immediate  vicinity.  A  majority 
of  the  negroes  had  been  brought  into  the  village 
in  the  early  days  by  emigrants  from  Virginia  and 
Maryland.  Their  number  was  gradually  decreas- 
ing. By  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  March 
I,  1780,  all  negroes  and  mulattoes  born  after  that 
date,  of  slave  mothers,  became  free  upon  arriving 
at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years.  Then  on  March 
29,  1788,  it  was  enacted  that  any  slaves  brought 
into  the  State  by  persons  resident  thereof,  or  in- 
tending to  become  such,  should  immediately  be 
free. 2  Also  public  sentiment  was  growing  hostile 
to  the  institution  of  negro  slavery.  The  few  free 
negroes  in  Pittsburgh  were  engaged  in  menial 
occupations,  and  the  name  of  only  one,  whose 
vocation  was  somewhat  higher,  has  been  handed 
down  to  the  present  time.  This  was  Charles 
Richards,  commonly  called  " Black  Charley,"  who 
conducted  an  inn  in  the  log  house,  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  Second  and  Ferry  Streets. 

Among  themselves  the  Germans  and  the  French 
spoke  the  language  of  their  fathers,  but  in  their 
intercourse  with  their  English-speaking  neigh- 


40  Pittsburgh 

bors  they  used  English.  The  language  of  the 
street  varied  from  the  English  of  New  England 
and  Virginia,  to  the  brogue  of  the  Irish  and  Scotch, 
or  the  broken  enunciation  of  the  newer  Germans 
and  French.  Being  in  a  majority  the  English- 
speaking  population  controlled  to  a  considerable 
extent  the  destinies  of  the  community.  Their 
manufactories  were  the  most  extensive,  the  mer- 
chandise in  their  stores  was  in  greater  variety, 
and  the  stocks  larger  than  those  carried  in  other 
establishments. 

Next  in  numbers  to  those  whose  native  language 
was  English,  were  the  German-speaking  inhabit- 
ants. They  constituted  the  skilled  mechanics; 
some  were  merchants,  and  many  were  engaged  in 
farming  in  the  neighboring  townships.  They 
were  all  more  or  less  closely  connected  with  the 
German  church.  Only  the  names  of  their  lead- 
ing men  have  survived  the  obliterating  ravages 
of  time.  Among  the  mechanics  of  the  higher  class 
were  Jacob  Haymaker,  William  Eichbaum,  and 
John  Hamsher.  The  first  was  a  boatbuilder, 
whose  boatyard  was  located  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Monongahela  River  at  the  Middle  Ferry; 


The  Melting  Pot  41 

Eichbaum  was  employed  by  O'Hara  and  Craig 
in  the  construction  and  operation  of  their  glass 
works.  John  Hamsher  was  a  coppersmith  and 
tin-worker,  whose  diversion  was  to  serve  in  the 
militia,  in  which  he  was  captain.3 

Conrad  Winebiddle,  Jonas  Roup,  Alexander  Neg- 
ley,  and  his  son,  Jacob  Negley,  were  well-to-do 
farmers  in  Pitt  Township.  Winebiddle  was  a 
large  holder  of  real  estate,  who  died  in  1795,  and 
enjoyed  the  unique  distinction  of  being  the  only 
German  who  ever  owned  negro  slaves  in  Allegheny 
County.  Nicholas  Bausman  and  Melchoir  Beltz- 
hoover  were  farmers  in  St.  Clair  Township;  and 
Casper  Reel  was  a  farmer  and  trapper  in  Pine 
Township,  where  he  was  also  tax  collector. 
Samuel  Ewalt  kept  a  tavern  in  Pittsburgh  in  1775, 
and  was  afterward  a  merchant.  He  was  Sheriff 
of  Allegheny  County  during  the  dark  days  of  the 
Whisky  Insurrection,  and  later  was  inspector  of 
the  Allegheny  County  brigade  of  militia.  He  was 
several  times  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  House 
of  Representatives.  William  Wusthoff  was  Sheriff 
of  Allegheny  County  in  1801.  Jacob  Bausman 
had  a  varied  career.  He  was  a  resident  of  Pitts- 


42  Pittsburgh 

burgh  as  far  back  as  1771,  and  was  perhaps  the 
most  prominent  German  in  the  place.  As  a  young 
man  he  was  an  ensign  in  the  Virginia  militia,  dur- 
ing the  Virginia  contention.  He  established  the 
first  ferry  on  the  Monongahela  River,  which  ran 
to  his  house  on  the  south  side  of  the  stream,  where 
the  southern  terminus  of  the  Smithfield  Street 
bridge  is  now  located.  The  right  to  operate  the 
ferry  was  granted  to  him  by  the  Virginia  Court 
on  February  23,  1775,  and  was  confirmed  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  ten  years 
later.  At  his  ferry  house  he  also  conducted  a 
tavern.  His  energies  were  not  confined  to  his 
private  affairs.  Under  the  Act  of  the  General 
Assembly  incorporating  Allegheny  County,  he 
was  named  as  one  of  the  trustees  to  select  land 
for  a  court  house  in  the  tract  reserved  by  the 
State,  in  Pine  Township,  and  was  again,  under  the 
Act  of  April  13,  1791,  made  a  trustee  to  purchase 
land  in  Pittsburgh  for  the  same  purpose.  He  was 
treasurer  of  the  German  church  and,  jointly  with 
Jacob  Haymaker,  was  trustee,  on  the  part  of  the 
church,  of  the  land  deeded  by  the  Penns  to  that 
congregation  for  church  purposes  at  the  northeast 


The  Melting  Pot  43 

corner  of  Smithfield  and  Sixth  Streets,  where  the 
congregation's  second  and  all  subsequent  churches 
were  built.  Michael  Hufnagle  was  a  member  of 
the  Allegheny  County  Bar,  being  one  of  the  first 
ten  men  to  be  admitted  to  practice,  upon  the  or- 
ganization of  the  county.  He  was  the  only  lawyer 
of  German  nationality  in  the  county.  He  had 
been  a  captain  in  the  Revolution,  and  prothonotary 
of  Westmoreland  County.  On  July  13,  1782, 
when  the  Indians  and  Tories  attacked  Hannas- 
town,  he  occupied  a  farm  situated  a  mile  and  a 
half  north  of  that  place,  which  has  ever  since 
been  known  in  frontier  history  as  the  place  where 
the  townsfolk  were  harvesting  when  the  attack 
began.4 

By  their  English-speaking  neighbors  the  Ger- 
mans were  generally  designated  as  "Dutch."  In 
the  references  to  them  in  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette  and 
other  early  publications,  they  were  likewise  called 
"Dutch."  Books  printed  in  the  German  lan- 
guage were  advertised  as  "Dutch"  books.  The 
custom  of  speaking  of  the  Germans  as  "Dutch" 
was  however  not  confined  to  Pittsburgh,  but  was 
universal  in  America.  The  Dutch  inhabitants 


44  Pittsburgh 

of  New  York  and  elsewhere,  were  the  first  settlers 
in  the  colonies,  whose  language  was  other  than 
English.  The  bulk  of  the  English-speaking  popu- 
lation, wholly  ignorant  of  any  language  except  their 
own,  were  easily  led  into  the  error  of  confusing 
the  newer  German  immigrants  with  the  Dutch, 
the  only  persons  speaking  a  foreign  tongue  with 
whom  they  had  come  in  contact.  Nor  were  the 
uneducated  classes  the  only  transgressors  in  this 
respect.  The  Rev.  Dr.  William  Smith,  the  schol- 
arly Provost  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  writing 
during  the  French  and  Indian  War,  spoke  of  the 
Germans  as  "the  Dutch  or  Germans."5  Also 
"Dutch"  bears  a  close  resemblance  to  "Deutsch," 
the  German  name  for  people  of  the  German  race, 
which  may  account,  to  some  extent,  for  the  misuse 
of  the  word. 

The  Germans  were  in  Pittsburgh  to  stay. 
Their  efforts  were  directed  largely  toward  private 
ends.  When  men  of  other  blood  made  records 
in  public  life,  the  Germans  made  theirs  in  the 
limited  sphere  of  their  own  employment  or  enter- 
prises. Owing  to  their  inability  to  speak  the 
English  language,  their  position  was  more  isolated 


The  Melting  Pot  45 

than  that  of  the  greenest  English-speaking  immi- 
grant in  the  village.  That  they  were  clannish 
was  a  natural  consequence.  This  disposition 
was  accentuated  when  a  newspaper  printed  in  the 
German  language  was  established  on  November 
22,  1800,  in  the  neighboring  borough  of  Greens- 
burgh,  entitled  The  German  Farmers'  Register, 
being  the  first  German  paper  published  in  the 
Western  country.  Subscriptions  were  received  in 
Pittsburgh  at  the  office  of  the  Tree  of  Liberty, 6  then 
recently  established,  and  the  effort  to  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  English  in  order  to  be  able  to  read 
the  news  of  the  day  in  the  Pittsburgh  newspapers, 
was  for  the  time  being  largely  abandoned.  As 
the  Germans  learned  to  speak  and  read  English, 
their  social  intercourse  was  no  longer  restricted  to 
persons  of  their  own  nationality.  With  the  next 
generation,  intermarriages  with  persons  of  other 
descent  took  place.  The  German  language  ceased 
to  be  cultivated ;  they  forsook  the  German  church 
for  one  where  English  was  the  prevailing  language. 
It  is  doubtful  if  a  single  descendant  of  the  old 
Germans  is  now  able  to  speak  the  language  of 
his  forbears  unless  it  was  learned  at  school,  or  that 


46  Pittsburgh 

he  is  a  member  of  or  attends  the  services  of  the 
German  church. 

The  French  element  was  an  almost  negligible 
quantity,  yet  it  exerted  an  influence  far  beyond 
what  might  be  expected  when  its  numbers  are 
considered.  So  strong  was  the  tide  of  public 
opinion  in  favor  of  all  things  French,  occasioned 
by  the  events  of  the  French  Revolution,  that  Albert 
Gallatin,  a  French-Swiss,  who  had  just  been  natur- 
alized, and  still  spoke  English  with  a  decided  for- 
eign accent,  attained  high  political  honors.  To 
the  people  he  was  essentially  a  Frenchman,  and 
in  1794,  he  was  elected  to  the  Pennsylvania  House 
of  Representatives,  from  Fayette  County  where  he 
lived.  At  the  same  time  he  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress from  the  district  consisting  of  Allegheny  and 
Washington  Counties;  and  was  twice  re-elected 
from  the  same  district,  which  included  Greene 
County  after  the  separation  from  Washington 
County  in  1796,  and  its  erection  into  a  separate 
county.  It  was  while  serving  this  constituency 
that  Gallatin  developed  those  powers  in  finance 
and  statesmanship  which  caused  his  appointment 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  by  President  Jeffer- 


The  Melting  Pot  47 

son,  and  by  Jefferson's  successor,  President  Mad- 
ison. From  the  politicians  of  this  Congressional 
District,  Gallatin  learned  those  lessons  in  diplo- 
macy which  enabled  him,  while  joint  commissioner 
of  the  United  States,  to  secure  the  signature  of  Eng- 
land to  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  by  which  the  War 
of  1812  was  brought  to  a  close,  and  which  led  to 
his  becoming  United  States  Minister  to  France 
and  to  England.  The  training  of  those  early  days 
finally  made  him  the  most  famous  of  all  Ameri- 
cans of  European  birth,  and  brought  about  his 
nomination  for  Vice-President  by  the  Congres- 
sional caucus  of  the  Republican  party,  an  honor 
which  he  first  accepted,  but  later  declined. 7 

Another  prominent  Frenchman  was  John  B.  C. 
Luqis.  In  1796,  he  lived  on  a  farm  on  Coal  Hill 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Monongahela  River,  in 
St.  Clair  Township,  five  miles  above  Pittsburgh. 
It  was  said  of  him  that  he  was  an  atheist  and  that 
his  wife  plowed  on  Sundays,  in  spite  of  which  he 
was  several  times  elected  to  the  General  Assembly. 8 
In  1800,  he  was  appointed  an  associate  judge  for 
the  county.  He  quarrelled  with  Alexander  Addi- 
son,  the  president  judge  of  the  judicial  district  to 


48  Pittsburgh 

which  Allegheny  County  was  attached,  yet  he  had 
sufficient  standing  in  the  State  to  cause  Judge 
Addison's  impeachment  and  removal  from  the 
Bench.  In  1802,  Lucas  was  elected  to  Congress 
and  was  re-elected  in  1804.  In  1805,  he  was  ap- 
pointed United  States  District  Judge  for  the  new 
Territory  of  Louisiana,  now  the  State  of  Missouri. 
Dr.  Felix  Brunot  arrived  in  Pittsburgh  in  1797. 
He  came  from  France  with  Lafayette  and  was  a 
surgeon  in  the  Revolutionary  War  and  fought  in 
many  of  its  battles.  His  office  was  located  on 
Liberty  Street,  although  he  owned  and  lived  on 
Brunot  Island.  An  emigre,  the  Chevalier  Dubac, 
was  a  merchant.9  Dr.  F.  A.  Michaux,  the  French 
naturalist  and  traveler,  related  of  Dubac:10  "I 
frequently  saw  M.  Le  Chevalier  Dubac,  an  old 
French  officer  who,  compelled  by  the  events  of  the 
Revolution  -to  quit  France,  settled  in  Pittsburgh 
where  he  engaged  in  commerce.  He  possesses 
very  correct  knowledge  of  the  Western  country, 
and  is  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  navigation  of 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  having  made 
several  voyages  to  New  Orleans."  Morgan  Ne- 
ville a  son  of  Colonel  Presley  Neville,  and  a  writer 


The  Melting  Pot  49 

of  acknowledged  ability,  drew  a  charming  picture 
of  Dubac's  life  in  Pittsburgh. T  * 

Perhaps  the  best  known  Frenchman  in  Pitts- 
burgh was  John  Marie,  the  proprietor  of  the  tavern 
on  Grant's  Hill.  Grant's  Hill  was  the  eminence 
which  adjoined  the  town  on  the  east,  the  ascent 
to  the  hill  beginning  a  short  distance  west  of  Grant 
Street.  The  tavern  was  located  just  outside  of 
the  borough  limits,  at  the  northeast  corner  of 
Grant  Street  and  the  Braddocksfield  Road,  where 
it  connected  with  Fourth  Street.  The  inclosure 
contained  more  than  six  acres,  and  was  called 
after  the  place  of  its  location,  "Grant's  Hill." 
It  overlooked  Pittsburgh,  and  its  graveled  walks 
and  cultivated  grounds  were  the  resort  of  the 
townspeople.  For  many  years  it  was  the  leading 
tavern.  Gallatin,  who  was  in  Pittsburgh,  in  1787, 
while  on  the  way  from  New  Geneva  to  Maine, 
noted  in  his  diary  that  he  passed  Christmas  Day 
at  Marie's  house,  in  company  with  Brackenridge 
and  Peter  Audrian,12  a  well-known  French  mer- 
chant on  Water  Street.  Marie's  French  nation- 
ality naturally  led  him  to  become  a  Republican 
when  the  party  was  formed,  and  his  tavern  was 


50  Pittsburgh 

long  the  headquarters  of  that  party.  Numerous 
Republican  plans  for  defeating  their  opponents 
originated  in  Marie's  house,  and  many  Republican 
victories  were  celebrated  in  his  rooms.  Also  in 
this  tavern  the  general  meetings  of  the  militia 
officers  were  held.13  Michaux  has  testified  that 
Marie  kept  a  good  inn. M  The  present  court  house, 
the  combination  court  house  and  city  hall  now 
being  erected,  and  a  small  part  of  the  South  School, 
the  first  public  school  in  Pittsburgh,  occupy  the 
larger  portion  of  the  site  of  "Grant's  Hill." 

Marie's  name  became  well  known  over  the  State, 
several  years  after  he  retired  to  private  life.  He 
was  seventy-five  years  of  age  in  1802,  when  he 
discontinued  tavern-keeping  and  sold  "Grant's 
Hill"  to  James  Ross,  United  States  Senator  from 
Pennsylvania,  who  was  a  resident  of  Pittsburgh. 
Marie  had  been  estranged  from  his  wife  for  a 
number  of  years  and  by  some  means  she  obtained 
possession  of  "Grant's  Hill,"  of  which  Ross  had 
difficulty  in  dispossessing  her.  In  1808,  Ross  was 
a  candidate  for  governor  against  Simon  Snyder. 
Ross's  difference  with  Mrs.  Marie,  whose  husband 
had  by  this  time  divorced  her,  came  to  the 


The  Melting  Pot  51 

knowledge  of  William  Duane  in  Philadelphia,  the 
brilliant  but  unscrupulous  editor  of  the  Aurora 
since  the  discontinuance  of  the  National  Gazette, 
in  1793,  the  leading  radical  Republican  newspaper 
in  the  country.  The  report  was  enlarged  into  a 
scandal  of  great  proportions  both  in  the  Aurora 
and  in  a  pamphlet  prepared  by  Duane  and  circu- 
lated principally  in  Philadelphia.  The  title  of 
the  pamphlet  was  harrowing.  It  was  called  "The 
Case  of  Jane  Marie,  Exhibiting  the  Cruelty  and 
Barbarous  Conduct  of  James  Ross  to  a  Defence- 
less Woman,  Written  and  Published  by  the  Object 
of  his  Cruelty  and  Vengeance."  Although  Marie 
was  opposed  to  Ross  politically,  he  defended  his 
conduct  toward  Mrs.  Marie  as  being  perfectly  hon- 
orable. Nevertheless,  the  pamphlet  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  obtaining  for  Snyder  the  majority  of 
twenty-four  thousand  by  which  he  defeated  Ross. 
Notwithstanding  the  high  positions  which  some 
of  the  Frenchmen  attained,  they  left  no  per- 
manent impression  in  Pittsburgh.  After  pros- 
pering there  for  a  few  years,  they  went  away  and 
no  descendants  of  theirs  reside  in  the  city  unless 
it  be  some  of  the  descendants  of  Dr.  Brunot. 


52  Pittsburgh 

Some  went  south  to  the  Louisiana  country,  and 
others  returned  to  France.  Gallatin,  himself, 
long  after  he  had  shaken  the  dust  of  Western 
Pennsylvania  from  his  feet,  writing  about  his 
grandson,  the  son  of  his  son  James,  said:  "He  is 
the  only  young  male  of  my  name,  and  I  have  hesi- 
tated whether,  with  a  view  to  his  happiness,  I  had 
not  better  take  him  to  live  and  die  quietly  at 
Geneva,  rather  than  to  leave  him  to  struggle  in 
this  most  energetic  country,  where  the  strong  in 
mind  and  character  overset  everybody  else,  and 
where  consideration  and  respectability  are  not  at 
all  in  proportion  to  virtue  and  modest  merit."15 
And  the  grandson  went  to  Geneva  to  live,  and 
his  children  were  born  there  and  he  died  there.16 

The  United  States  Government  was  still  in 
the  formative  stage.  Until  this  time  the  men  who 
had  fought  the  Revolutionary  War  to  a  successful 
conclusion,  held  a  tight  rein  on  the  governmental 
machinery.  Now  a  new  element  was  growing  up, 
and,  becoming  dissatisfied  with  existing  conditions, 
organized  for  a  conflict  with  the  men  in  power. 
The  rise  of  the  opposition  to  the  Federal  party  was 
also  the  outcome  of  existing  social  conditions.  Like 


The  Melting  Pot  53 

the  modern  cry  against  consolidated  wealth,  the 
movement  was  a  contest  by  the  discontented 
elements  in  the  population,  of  the  men  who  had 
little  against  those  who  had  more.  Abuses  com- 
mitted by  individuals  and  conditions  common  to 
new  countries  were  magnified  into  errors  of  govern- 
ment. Also  the  people  were  influenced  by  the 
radicalism  superinduced  by  the  French  Revolution 
and  the  subsequent  happenings  in  France.  "  Lib- 
erty, fraternity,  and  equality"  were  enticing 
catchwords  in  the  United  States. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  on  his  return  from  France, 
in  1789,  after  an  absence  of  six  years,  where  he 
had  served  as  United  States  Minister,  during  the 
development  of  French  radicalism,  came  home 
much  strengthened  in  his  ideas  of  liberty.  They 
were  in  strong  contrast  with  the  more  conserva- 
tive notions  of  government  entertained  by  Wash- 
ington, Vice-President  Adams,  Hamilton,  and  the 
other  members  of  the  Cabinet.  In  March,  1790, 
Jefferson  became  Secretary  of  State  in  Washing- 
ton's first  Cabinet,  the  appointment  being  held 
open  for  him  since  April  I3th  of  the  preceding 
year,  when  Washington  entered  on  the  duties  of 


54  Pittsburgh 

the  Presidency.  Jefferson's  views  being  made 
public,  he  immediately  became  the  deity  of  the 
radical  element.  At  the  close  of  1793,  the  dis- 
sensions in  the  Cabinet  had  become  so  acute  that 
on  December  3ist  Jefferson  resigned  in  order  to 
be  better  able  to  lead  the  new  party  which  was 
being  formed.  By  this  element  the  Federalists 
were  termed  "aristocrats,"  and  "tories."  They 
were  charged  with  being  traitors  to  their  country, 
and  were  accused  of  being  in  league  with  England, 
and  to  be  plotting  for  the  establishment  of  a 
monarchy,  and  an  aristocracy.  The  opposition 
party  assumed  the  title  of  "Republican."  Later 
the  word  "Democratic"  was  prefixed  and  the 
party  was  called  "Democratic  Republican,"17 
although  in  Pittsburgh  for  many  years  the  words 
''Republican,"  "Democratic  Republican,"  and 
"Democratic"  were  used  interchangeably. 

Heretofore  Pennsylvania  had  been  staunchly 
Federal.  On  the  organization  of  the  Republican 
party,  Governor  Thomas  MifHin,  and  Chief  Justice 
Thomas  McKean  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  two 
most  popular  men  in  the  State,  left  the  Federal 
party  and  became  Republicans.  There  was  also 


The  Melting  Pot  55 

a  cause  peculiar  to  Pennsylvania,  for  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  State.  The 
constant  increase  in  the  backwoods  population 
consisted  largely  of  emigrants  from  Europe, 
chiefly  from  Ireland,  who  brought  with  them  a 
bitter  hatred  of  England  and  an  intense  admira- 
tion for  France.  They  went  almost  solidly  into 
the  Republican  camp.  The  arguments  of  the 
Republicans  had  a  French  revolutionary  coloring 
mingled  with  which  were  complaints  caused  by 
failure  to  realize  expected  conditions.  An  address 
published  in  the  organ  of  the  Republican  party  in 
Pittsburgh  is  a  fair  example  of  the  reasoning  em- 
ployed in  advocacy  of  the  Republican  candidates: 
"Albert  Gallatin,  the  friend  of  the  people,  the 
enemy  of  tyrants,  is  to  be  supported  on  Tuesday, 
the  I4th  of  October  next,  for  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States.  Fellow  citizens,  ye  who  are  op- 
posed to  speculators,  land  jobbers,  public  plun- 
derers, high  taxes,  eight  per  cent,  loans,  and 
standing  armies,  vote  for  Mr.  Gallatin!"18 

In  Pittsburgh  the  leader  of  the  Republicans  was 
Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge,  the  lawyer  and  dilet- 
tante in  literature.  In  the  fierce  invective  of  the 


56  Pittsburgh 

time,  he  and  all  the  members  of  his  party  were 
styled  by  their  opponents  "Jacobins,"  after  the 
revolutionary  Jacobin  Club  of  France,  to  'which 
all  the  woes  of  the  Terror  were  attributed.  The 
Pittsburgh  Gazette  referred  to  Brackenridge  as 
"Citizen  Brackenridge,"  and  after  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Tree  of  Liberty,  added  "Jacobin  printer 
of  the  Tree  of  Sedition,  Blasphemy,  and  Slander"*9 
But  the  Republicans  gloried  in  titles  borrowed  from 
the  French  Revolution.  The  same  year  that  Gov- 
ernor Mifflin  and  Chief  Justice  McKean  went  over 
to  the  Republicans,  Brackenridge  made  a  Fourth 
of  July  address  in  Pittsburgh,  in  which  he  advo- 
cated closer  relations  with  France.  This  was 
republished  in  New  York  by  the  Republicans,  in 
a  pamphlet,  along  with  a  speech  made  by  Maxi- 
milien  Robespierre  in  the  National  Convention  of 
France.  In  this  pamphlet  Brackenridge  was 
styled  "Citizen  Brackenridge."20  The  Pittsburgh 
Gazette  and  the  Tree  of  Liberty,  contained  numerous 
references  to  meetings  and  conferences  held  at 
the  tavern  of  "Citizen"  Marie.  On  March  4, 
1802,  the  first  anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of 
Jefferson  as  President,  a  dinner  was  given  by  the 


The  Melting  Pot  57 

leading  Republicans  in  the  tavern  of  "Citizen" 
Jeremiah  Sturgeon,  at  the  "Sign  of  the  Cross 
Keys,"  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Wood  Street 
and  Diamond  Alley,  at  which  toasts  were  drunk 
to  "Citizen"  Thomas  Jefferson,  "Citizen"  Aaron 
Burr,  "  Citizen  "  James  Madison,  "  Citizen  "  Albert 
Gallatin,  and  "Citizen"  Thomas  McKean.21 

In  1799,  the  Republicans  had  as  their  candidate 
for  governor  Chief  Justice  McKean.  Opposed 
to  him  was  Senator  James  Ross.  Ross  was  re- 
quired to  maintain  a  defensive  campaign.  The 
fact  that  he  was  a  Federalist  was  alone  sufficient 
to  condemn  him  in  the  eyes  of  many  of  the  electors. 
He  was  accused  of  being  a  follower  of  Thomas 
Paine,  and  was  charged  with  "singing  psalms 
over  a  card  table."  It  was  said  that  he  had 
"mimicked"  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  McMillan,  the 
pioneer  preacher  of  Presbyterianism  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  and  a  politician  of  no  mean  in- 
fluence; that  he  had  "mocked"  the  Rev.  Matthew 
Henderson,  a  prominent  minister  of  the  Associate 
Presbyterian  Church.22  Although  Allegheny 
County  gave  Ross  a  majority  of  over  eleven 
hundred  votes,  he  was  defeated  in  the  State  by 


58  Pittsburgh 

more  than  seventy-nine  hundred. a3  McKean  took 
office  on  December  17,  1799, 24  and  the  next  day 
he  appointed  Brackenridge  a  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  All  but  one  or  two  of  the  county  offices 
were  filled  by  appointment  of  the  governor,  who 
could  remove  the  holders  at  pleasure.  The  idea 
of  public  offices  being  public  trusts  had  not  been 
formulated.  The  doctrine  afterward  attributed 
to  Andrew  Jackson,  that  "to  the  victors  belong 
the  spoils  of  office, "  was  already  a  dearly  cherished 
principle  of  the  Republicans,  and  Judge  Bracken- 
ridge  was  not  an  exception  to  his  party.  Hardly 
had  he  taken  his  seat  on  the  Supreme  Bench,  when 
he  induced  Governor  McKean  to  remove  from 
office  the  Federalist  prothonotary,  James  Brison, 
who  had  held  the  position  since  September  26, 
1788,  two  days  after  the  organization  of  the  county. 
Brison  was  very  popular.  As  a  young  man,  he 
had  lived  at  Hannastown,  and  during  the  attack 
of  the  British  and  Indians  on  the  place  had  been 
one  of  the  men  sent  on  the  dangerous  errand  of 
reconnoitering  the  enemy.23  He  was  now  captain 
of  the  Pittsburgh  Troop  of  Light  Dragoons,  the 
crack  company  in  the  Allegheny  County  brigade 


The  Melting  Pot  59 

of  militia,  and  was  Secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Academy.  He  was  a  society 
leader  and  generally  managed  the  larger  social 
functions  of  the  town.  General  Henry  Lee,  the 
Governor  of  Virginia,  famous  in  the  annals  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  as  "Light-Horse  Harry  Lee," 
commanded  the  expedition  sent  by  President 
Washington  to  suppress  the  Whisky  Insurrection, 
and  was  in  Pittsburgh  several  weeks  during  that 
memorable  campaign.  On  the  eve  of  his  departure 
a  ball  was  given  in  his  honor  by  the  citizens.  On 
that  occasion  Brison  was  master  of  ceremonies. 
A  few  months  earlier  Brackenridge  had  termed 
him  "a  puppy  and  a  coxcomb."  Brackenridge 
credited  Brison  with  retaliating  for  the  epithet, 
by  neglecting  to  provide  his  wife  and  himself  with 
an  invitation  to  the  ball.  This  was  an  additional 
cause  for  his  dismissal,  and  toward  the  close  of 
January  the  office  was  given  to  John  C.  Gilkison. 
Gilkison  who  was  a  relative  of  Brackenridge,  con- 
ducted the  book-store  and  library  which  he  had 
opened  the  year  before,  and  also  followed  the 
occupation  of  scrivener,  preparing  such  legal  papers 
as  were  demanded  of  him.26 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  III 

1      Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  23,  1801. 

»  COLLINSON  READ.  An  Abridgment  of  the  Laws  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia,  MDCCCI,  pp.  264-269. 

3    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  7,  1799. 

«  NEVILLE  B.  CRAIG.  The  Olden  Time,  Pittsburgh,  1848, 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  354-355- 

s  A  Brief  State  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  London,  1755, 
p.  12. 

6     Tree  of  Liberty,  December  27,  1800. 

»    JOHN  AUSTIN  STEVENS.     Albert  Gallatin,  Boston,  1895,  p.  370. 

8  MAJOR  EBENEZER  DENNY.  Military  Journal,  Philadelphia, 
1859,  p.  21. 

»    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  23,  1801. 

10  DR.  F.  A.  MICHAUX.     Travels  to  the  Westward  of  the  Alle- 

ghany  Mountains  in  the  Year  1802,  London,  1805,  p.  36. 

11  MORGAN  NEVILLE.     In  John  F.  Watson's  Annals  of  Phila- 

delphia and  Pennsylvania,   Philadelphia,    1891,   vol.   ii., 

pp.  132-135- 
11    HENRY  ADAMS.     The  Life  of  Albert  Gallatin,  Philadelphia, 

1880,  p.  68. 

*s     Tree  of  Liberty,  November  7, 1800;  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  Febru- 
ary 20,  1801. 
'<    DR.  F.  A.  MICHAUX.     Travels  to  the  Westward  of  the  Alle- 

ghany  Mountains  in  the  Year  1802,  London,  1805,  p.  29. 
*s    HENRY  ADAMS.     The  Life  of  Albert  Gallatin,  Philadelphia, 

1880,  p.  650. 
16  COUNT  DE  GALLATIN.  "A  Diary  of  James  Gallatin  in  Europe"; 

Scribner's   Magazine,    New   York,    vol.   Ivi.,   September, 

1914,  pp.  350-351. 

60 


The  Melting  Pot  61 

RICHARD  HILDRETH.     The  History  of  the  United  States  of 

America,  New  York,  vol.  iv.,  p.  425. 
Tree  of  Liberty,  September  27,  1800. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  February  6,  1801. 
Political  Miscellany,  New  York,  1793,  pp.  27-31. 
Tree  of  Liberty,  March  13,  1802. 
Tree  of  Liberty,  September  19,  1801. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  26,  1799. 
WILLIAM  C.  ARMOR.    Lives  of  the  Governors  of  Pennsylvania, 

Philadelphia,  1873,  p.  289. 
NEVILLE  B.  CRAIG.     The  Olden   Time,  Pittsburgh,   1848, 

vol.  ii.,  p.  355. 
H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.     Recollections  of  Persons  and  Places 

in  the  West,  Philadelphia,  1868,  p.  68;  Pittsburgh  Gazette, 

December  29,  1798. 


CHAPTER  IV 

LIFE    AT    THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    NINETEENTH 
CENTURY 

THE  Pittsburgh  Gazette  was  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  the  Federal  party,  and  Brack- 
enridge  and  the  other  leading  Republicans 
felt  the  need  of  a  newspaper  of  their  own.  The 
result  was  the  establishment  on  August  16,  1800, 
of  the  Tree  of  Liberty,  by  John  Israel,  who  was  al- 
ready publishing  a  newspaper,  called  the  Herald 
of  Liberty,  in  Washington,  Pennsylvania.  The 
title  of  the  new  paper  was  intended  to  typify  its 
high  mission.  The  significance  of  the  name  was 
further  indicated  in  the  conspicuously  displayed 
motto,  "And  the  leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations."  The  Federalists,  and 
more  especially  their  organ,  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette, x 

charged  Brackenridge  with  being  the  owner  of 

62 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century   63 

the  new  paper,  and  with  being  responsible  for  its 
utterances.'  Brackenridge,  however,  has  left  a 
letter  in  which  he  refuted  this  statement,  and 
alleged  that  originally  he  intended  to  establish  a 
newspaper,  but  on  hearing  of  Israel's  intention 
gave  up  the  idea.2 

The  extent  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  enjoyed 
in  Pittsburgh  was  surprising.  The  houses,  whether 
built  of  logs,  or  frame,  or  brick,  were  comfortable, 
even  in  winter.  In  the  kitchens  were  large  open 
fire-places,  where  wood  was  burned.  The  best 
coal  fuel  was  plentiful.  Although  stoves  were 
invented  barely  half  a  century  earlier,  and  were  in 
general  use  only  in  the  larger  cities,  the  houses 
in  Pittsburgh  could  already  boast  of  many.  There 
were  cannon  stoves,  so  called  because  of  their 
upright  cylindrical,  cannon-like  shape,  and  Frank- 
lin or  open  stoves,  invented  by  Benjamin  Franklin; 
the  latter  graced  the  parlor.  Grates  were  giving 
out  their  cheerful  blaze.  They  were  also  in  use 
in  some  of  the  rooms  of  the  new  court  house,  and 
in  the  new  jail. 

The  advertisements  of  the  merchants  told  the 
story  of  what  the  people  ate  and  drank,  and  of  the 


64  Pittsburgh 

materials  of  which  their  clothing  was  made.  Arti- 
cles of  food  were  in  great  variety.  In  the  stores 
were  tea,  coffee,  red  and  sugar  almonds,  olives, 
chocolate,  spices  of  all  kinds,  muscatel  and  keg 
raisins,  dried  peas,  and  a  score  of  other  luxuries, 
besides  the  ordinary  articles  of  consumption.  The 
gentry  of  England,  as  pictured  in  the  pages  of  the 
old  romances,  did  not  have  a  greater  variety  of 
liquors  to  drink.  There  were  Madeira,  sherry, 
claret,  Lisbon,  port,  and  Teneriffe  wines,  French 
and  Spanish  brandies,3  Jamaica  and  antique 
spirits.4  Perrin  DuLac,  who  visited  Pittsburgh 
in  1802,  said  these  liquors  were  the  only  articles 
sold  in  the  town  that  were  dear.5  But  not  all 
partook  of  the  luxuries.  Bread  and  meat,  and  such 
vegetables  as  were  grown  in  the  neighborhood, 
constituted  the  staple  articles  of  food,  and  home- 
made whisky  was  the  ordinary  drink  of  the  major- 
ity of  the  population.  The  native  fruits  were 
apples  and  pears,  which  had  been  successfully 
propagated  since  the  early  days  of  the  English 
occupation.6 

Materials  for  men's  and  women's  clothing  were 
endless  in  variety  and  design  and  consisted  of 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century  65 

cloths,  serges,  flannels,  brocades,  jeans,  fustians, 
Irish  linens,  cambrics,  lawns,  nankeens,  ging- 
hams, muslins,  calicos,  and  chintzes.  Other 
articles  were  tamboured  petticoats,  tamboured 
cravats,  silk  and  cotton  shawls,  wreaths  and 
plumes,  sunshades  and  parasols,  black  silk  netting 
gloves,  white  and  salmon-colored  long  and  short 
gloves,  kid  and  morocco  shoes  and  slippers,  men's 
beaver,  tanned,  and  silk  gloves,  men's  cotton  and 
thread  caps,  and  silk  and  cotton  hose. 

Men  were  changing  their  dress  along  with  their 
political  opinions.  One  of  the  consequences  in 
the  United  States  of  the  French  Revolution  was 
to  cause  the  effeminate  and  luxurious  dress  in 
general  use  to  give  way  to  simpler  and  less  extra- 
vagant attire.  The  rise  of  the  Republican  party 
and  the  class  distinctions  which  it  was  responsible 
for  engendering,  more  than  any  other  reason, 
caused  the  men  of  affairs — the  merchants,  the 
manufacturers,  the  lawyers,  the  physicians,  and 
the  clergymen — to  discard  the  old  fashions  and 
adopt  new  ones.  Cocked  hats  gave  way  to  soft 
or  stiff  hats,  with  low  square  crowns  and  straight 
brims.  The  fashionable  hats  were  the  beaver 


66  Pittsburgh 

made  of  the  fur  of  the  beaver,  the  castor  made  of 
silk  in  imitation  of  the  beaver,  and  the  roram 
made  of  felt,  with  a  facing  of  beaver  fur  felted  in. 
Coats  of  blue,  green,  and  buff,  and  waistcoats  of 
crimson,  white,  or  yellow,  were  superseded  by 
garments  of  soberer  colors.  Coats  continued  to 
be  as  long  as  ever,  but  the  tails  were  cut  away  in 
front.  Knee-breeches  were  succeeded  by  tight- 
fitting  trousers  reaching  to  the  ankles ;  low-buckled 
shoes,  by  high-laced  leather  shoes,  or  boots.  Men 
discontinued  wearing  cues,  and  their  hair  was  cut 
short,  and  evenly  around  the  head.  There  were 
of  course  exceptions.  Many  men  of  conservative 
temperament  still  clung  to  the  old  fashions.  A  no- 
table example  in  Pittsburgh  was  the  Rev.  Robert 
Steele,  who  always  appeared  in  black  satin  knee- 
breeches,  knee-buckles,  silk  stockings,  and  pumps. 7 
The  farmers  on  the  'plantations  surrounding 
Pittsburgh  and  the  mechanics  in  the  borough  were 
likewise  affected  by  the  movement  for  dress  re- 
form. Their  apparel  had  always  been  less  pictur- 
esque than  that  of  the  business  and  professional 
men.  Now  the  ordinary  dress  of  the  farmers  and 
mechanics  consisted  of  short  tight-fitting  round- 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century  67 

abouts,  or  sailor's  jackets,  made  in  winter  of  cloth 
or  linsey,  and  in  summer  of  nankeen,  dimity, 
gingham,  or  linen.  Sometimes  the  jacket  was 
without  sleeves,  the  shirt  being  heavy  enough  to 
afford  protection  against  inclement  weather.  The 
trousers  were  loose-fitting  and  long,  and  extended 
to  the  ankles,  and  were  made  of  nankeen,  tow,  or 
cloth.  Some  men  wore  blanket-coats.  Overalls, 
of  dimity,  nankeen,  and  cotton,  were  the  especial 
badge  of  mechanics.  The  shirt  was  of  tow  or 
coarse  linen,  the  vest  of  dimity.  On  their  feet, 
farmers  and  mechanics  alike  wore  coarse  high- 
laced  shoes,  half-boots,  or  boots  made  of  neat's 
leather.  The  hats  were  soft,  of  fur  or  wool,  and 
were  low  and  round-crowned,  or  the  crowns  were 
high  and  square. 

The  inhabitants  of  Pittsburgh  were  pleasure- 
loving,  and  the  time  not  devoted  to  business 
was  given  over  to  the  enjoyments  of  life.  Men 
and  women  alike  played  cards.  Whisk,  as  whist 
was  called,  and  Boston  were  the  ordinary  games.8 
All  classes  and  nationalities  danced,  and  dancing 
was  cultivated  as  an  art.  Dancing  masters  came 
to  Pittsburgh  to  give  instructions,  and  adults  and 


68  Pittsburgh 

children  alike  took  lessons.  In  winter  public  balls 
and  private  assemblies  were  given.  The  dances 
were  more  pleasing  to  the  senses  than  any  ever 
seen  in  Pittsburgh,  except  the  dances  of  the  recent 
revival  of  the  art.  The  cotillion  was  executed  by 
an  indefinite  number  of  couples,  who  performed 
evolutions  or  figures  as  in  the  modern  german. 
Other  dances  were  the  minuet,  the  menuet  d  la 
cour,  and  jigs.  The  country  dance,  generally  per- 
formed by  eight  persons,  four  men  and  four 
women,  comprised  a  variety  of  steps,  and  a  sur- 
prising number  of  evolutions,  of  which  liveliness 
was  the  characteristic. 

The  taverns  had  rooms  set  apart  for  dances. 
The  "Sign  of  the  Green  Tree,"9  had  an  "Assembly 
Room";  the  "Sign  of  General  Butler"10  and  the 
"Sign  of  the  Waggon"11  each  had  a  "Ball  Room." 
The  small  affairs  were  given  in  the  homes  of  the 
host  or  hostess,  and  the  large  ones  in  the  taverns, 
or  in  the  grand- jury  room  of  the  new  court  house. 

The  dancing  masters  gave  "Practicing  Balls" 
at  which  the  cotillion  began  at  seven  o'clock,  and 
the  ball  concluded  with  the  country  dance,  which 
was  continued  until  twelve  o'clock.12  Dancing 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century    69 

became  so  popular  and  to  such  an  extent  were 
dancing  masters  in  the  eyes  of  the  public  that 
William  Irwin  christened  his  race  horse  "Dancing 
Master."13  The  ball  given  to  General  Lee  was 
talked  about  for  years  after  the  occurrence.  Its 
beauties  were  pictured  by  many  fair  lips.  The 
ladies  recalled  the  soldierly  bearing  of  the  guest 
of  honor,  the  tall  robust  form  of  General  Daniel 
Morgan,  Lee's  second  in  command,  and  the  com- 
mander of  the  Virginia  troops,  famous  as  the  hero 
of  Quebec  and  Saratoga,  who  had  received  the 
thanks  of  Congress  for  his  victory  at  Cowpens. 
They  dwelt  on  the  varicolored  uniforms  of  the 
soldiers,  the  bright  colors  worn  by  the  civilians, 
their  powdered  hair,  the  brocades,  and  silks,  and 
velvets  of  the  ladies. 

In  winter  evenings  there  were  concerts  and 
theatrical  performances  which  were  generally 
given  in  the  new  court  house.  A  unique  concert 
was  that  promoted  by  Peter  Declary.  It  was 
heralded  as  a  musical  event  of  importance.  Kotz- 
wara's  The  Battle  of  Prague,  was  performed  on 
the  "forte  piano"  by  one  of  Declary's  pupils, 
advertised  as  being  only  eight  years  of  age ;  Presi- 


70  Pittsburgh 

dent  Jefferson's  march  was  another  conspicuous 
feature.  The  exhibition  concluded  with  a  ball.14 

Comedy  predominated  in  the  theatrical  per- 
formances. The  players  were  "the  young  gentle- 
men of  the  town."  At  one  of  the  entertainments 
they  gave  John  O'Keefe's  comic  opera  The  Poor 
Soldier,  and  a  farce  by  Arthur  Murphy  called  The 
Apprentice.**  There  were  also  performances  of  a 
more  professional  character.  Bromley  and  Arnold, 
two  professional  actors,  conducted  a  series  of  the- 
atrical entertainments  extending  over  a  period  of 
several  weeks.  The  plays  which  they  rendered 
are  hardly  known  to-day.  At  a  single  perform- 
ance16 they  gave  a  comedy  entitled  Trick  upon 
Trick,  or  The  Vintner  in  the  Suds;  a  farce  called 
The  Jealous  Husband,  or  The  Lawyer  in  the  Sack; 
and  a  pantomime,  The  Sailor's  Landlady,  or  Jack 
in  Distress.  Another  play  in  the  series  was 
Edward  Moore's  tragedy,  The  Gamester. I? 

Much  of  Grant's  Hill  was  unenclosed.  Clumps 
of  trees  grew  on  its  irregular  surface,  and  there 
were  level  open  spaces;  and  in  summer  the  place 
was  green  with  grass,  and  bushes  grew  in  pro- 
fusion. Farther  in  the  background  were  great 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century   71 

forest  trees.  The  hill  was  the  pleasure  ground  of 
the  village.  Judge  Henry  M.  Brackenridge,  a  son 
of  Judge  Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge  dwelling  on 
the  past,  declared  that  "it  was  pleasing  to  see  the 
line  of  well-dressed  ladies  and  gentlemen  and 
children,  .  .  .  repairing  to  the  beautiful  green 
eminence."18  On  this  elevation  "under  a  bower, 
on  the  margin  of  a  wood,  and  near  a  delightful 
spring,  with  the  town  of  Pittsburgh  in  prospect," 
the  Fourth  of  July  celebrations  were  held.19  On 
August  2,  1794,  the  motley  army  of  Insurgents 
from  Braddocksfield  rested  there,  after  having 
marched  through  the  town.  Here  they  were 
refreshed  with  food  and  whisky,  in  order  that 
they  might  keep  in  good  humor,  and  to  prevent 
their  burning  the  town.20 

Samuel  Jones  has  left  an  intimate,  if  some- 
what regretful  account  of  the  early  social  life  of 
Pittsburgh.  "The  long  winter  evenings,"  he 
wrote,  "were  passed  by  the  humble  villagers  at 
each  other's  homes,  with  merry  tale  and  song,  or 
in  simple  games;  and  the  hours  of  night  sped 
lightly  onward  with  the  unskilled,  untiring  youth, 
as  they  threaded  the  mazes  of  the  dance,  guided 


72  Pittsburgh 

by  the  music  of  the  violin,  from  which  some  good- 
humored  rustic  drew  his  Orphean  sounds.  In  the 
jovial  time  of  harvest  and  hay-making,  the  sprightly 
and  active  of  the  village  participated  in  the  rural 
labors  and  the  hearty  pastimes,  which  distin- 
guished that  happy  season.  The  balls  and  merry- 
makings that  were  so  frequent  in  the  village  were 
attended  by  all  without  any  particular  deference 
to  rank  or  riches.  No  other  etiquette  than  that 
which  natural  politeness  prescribed  was  exacted 
or  expected.  .  .  .  Young  fellows  might  pay  their 
devoirs  to  their  female  acquaintances;  ride, 
walk,  or  talk  with  them,  and  pass  hours  in  their 
society  without  being  looked  upon  with  suspi- 
cion by  parents,  or  slandered  by  trolloping 
gossips."21 

The  event  of  autumn  was  the  horse  races, 
which  lasted  three  days.  They  were  held  in  the 
northeasterly  extremity  of  the  town  between  Lib- 
erty Street  and  the  Allegheny  River,22  and  were 
conducted  under  the  auspices  of  the  Jockey  Club 
which  had  been  in  existence  for  many  years. 
Sportsmen  came  from  all  the  surrounding  country. 
The  races  were  under  the  saddle,  sulkies  not  having 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century  73 

been  invented.  Racing  proprieties  were  observed, 
and  jockeys  were  required  to  be  dressed  in  jockey 
habits.23  Purses  were  given.  The  horses  com- 
pared favorably  with  race  horses  of  a  much  later 
day.  A  prominent  horse  was  "Young  Messenger" 
who  was  sired  by  "Messenger,"  the  most  famous 
trotting  horse  in  America,  which  had  been  imported 
into  Philadelphia  from  England  in  1788,  and  was 
the  progenitor  of  Rysdyk's  Hambletonian,  Ab- 
dallah,  Goldsmith  Maid,  and  a  score  of  other 
noted  race  horses. 

A  third  of  a  century  after  the  race  course  had 
been  removed  beyond  the  limits  of  the  munici- 
pality, Judge  Henry  M.  Brackenridge  published 
his  recollections  of  the  entrancing  sport.  "It 
was  then  an  affair  of  all-engrossing  interest,  and 
every  business  or  pursuit  was  neglected.  .  .  .  The 
whole  town  was  daily  poured  forth  to  witness  the 
Olympian  games.  .  .  .  The  plain  within  the  course 
and  near  it  was  filled  with  booths  as  at  a  fair, 
where  everything  was  said,  and  done,  and  sold, 
and  eaten  or  drunk,  where  every  fifteen  or  twenty 
minutes  there  was  a  rush  to  some  part,  to  witness 
a  fisticuff — where  dogs  barked  and  bit,  and  horses 


74  Pittsburgh 

trod  on  men's  toes,  and  booths  fell  down  on  people's 
heads!"24 

The  social  instincts  of  the  people  found  expres- 
sion in  another  direction.  The  Revolutionary 
War,  the  troubles  with  the  Indians,  the  more  or 
less  strained  relations  existing  between  France  and 
England,  had  combined  to  inbreed  a  military 
spirit.  Pennsylvania,  with  a  population,  in  1800, 
of  602,365,  had  enrolled  in  the  militia  88,707  of 
its  citizens.  The  militia  was  divided  into  light 
infantry,  riflemen,  grenadiers,  cavalry,  and  ar- 
tillery.25 Allegheny  County  had  a  brigade  of 
militia,  consisting  of  eight  regiments.26  The  com- 
mander was  General  Alexander  Fowler,  an  old 
Englishman  who  had  served  in  America,  in  the 
1 8th,  or  Royal  Irish,  Regiment  of  Foot.  On  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  he  had 
resigned  his  commission  on  account  of  his  sym- 
pathy with  the  Americans.  Being  unfit  for  active 
service,  Congress  appointed  him  Auditor  of  the 
Western  Department  at  Pittsburgh. 

The  militia  had  always  been  more  or  less  per- 
meated with  partisan  politics.  During  the  Revo- 
lution the  American  officers  wore  a  cockade  with 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century   75 

a  black  ground  and  a  white  relief,  called  the  black 
cockade.  This  the  Federalists  had  made  their 
party  emblem.  The  Republican  party,  soon  after 
its  organization,  adopted  as  a  badge  of  party 
distinction  a  cockade  of  red  and  blue  on  a  white 
base,  the  colors  of  revolutionary  France.  The  red 
and  blue  cockade  thereafter  became  the  distin- 
guishing mark  of  the  majority  of  the  Pennsylvania 
militia,  being  adopted  on  the  recommendation 
of  no  less  a  person  than  Governor  McKean. 
General  Fowler's  advocacy  of  the  red  and  blue 
cockade  and  his  disparagement  of  the  black 
cockade  were  incessant.  He  was  an  ardent 
Republican,  and  his  effusions  with  their  classic 
allusions  filled  many  columns  of  the  Tree  of 
Liberty  and  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette.  At  a  meeting 
of  the  Allegheny  County  militia  held  at  Marie's 
tavern,  the  red  and  blue  cockade  had  been  adopted. 
Fowler  claimed  that  this  was  the  result  of  public 
sentiment.  He  was  fond  of  platitudes.  "The 
voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God,"  he  quoted, 
crediting  the  proverb  to  an  "English  commen- 
tator," and  adding:  "Says  a  celebrated  historian, 
1  individuals  may  err,  but  the  voice  of  the  people 


76  Pittsburgh 

is  infallible.  *"27  A  strong  minority  in  Allegheny 
County  remained  steadfast  to  the  Federal  party, 
and  the  vote  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  red 
and  blue  cockade  was  not  unanimous.  Two  of 
the  regiments,  not  to  be  engulfed  in  the  growing 
wave  of  Republicanism,  or  overawed  by  the  domi- 
neering disposition  of  General  Fowler,  opposed 
.  the  adoption  of  the  red  and  blue  cockade,  and 
chose  the  black  cockade.28 

The  equipment  furnished  to  the  militia  by  the 
State  was  meagre,  but  the  patriotism  which  had 
so  lately  won  the  country's  independence  was  still 
at  flood  tide,  and  each  regiment  was  supplied 
with  two  silk  standards.  One  was  the  national 
flag,  the  other  the  regimental  colors.  The 
national  emblem  differed  somewhat  from  the  regu- 
lation United  States  flag.  The  word  "Pennsyl- 
vania" appeared  on  the  union,  with  the  number 
of  the  regiment,  the  whole  being  encircled  by 
thirteen  white  stars.  The  fly  of  the  regimental 
colors  was  dark  blue;  on  this  was  painted  an  eagle 
with  extended  wings  supporting  the  arms  of  the 
State.  The  union  was  similar  to  that  of  the 
national  flag.  The  prescribed  uniform  which 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century   77 

many  of  the  men,  however,  did  not  possess,  was  a 
blue  coat  faced  with  red,  with  a  lining  of  white  or 
red.  In  Allegheny  County  a  round  hat  with  the 
cockade  and  buck's  tail,  was  worn.29  The  parade 
ground  of  the  militia  was  the  level  part  of  Grant's 
Hill  which  adjoined  Marie's  tavern  on  the  north- 
east. Here  twice  each  year,  in  April  and  October, 
the  militia  received  its  training.  Of  no  minor 
interest,  was  the  social  life  enjoyed  by  officers  and 
men  alike,  during  the  annual  assemblages. 

In  the  territory  contiguous  to  Pittsburgh  the 
uprising,  for  the  right  to  manufacture  whisky 
without  paying  the  excise,  had  its  inception. 
That  taverns  should  abound  in  the  town  was 
a  natural  consequence.  In  1808  the  public 
could  be  accommodated  at  twenty-four  different 
taverns.30  The  annual  license  fee  for  taverns, 
including  the  clerk's  charges,  was  barely  twenty 
dollars.  Through  some  mental  legerdemain 
of  the  lawmakers  it  had  been  enacted  that  if 
more  than  a  quart  was  sold  no  license  was  re- 
quired. Liquors,  and  particularly  whisky,  were 
sold  in  nearly  every  mercantile  establishment. 
Also  beer  had  been  brewed  in  Pittsburgh  since  an 


78  Pittsburgh 

early  day,  at  the  "Point  Brewery,"  which  was 
purchased  in  1795  by  Smith  and  Shiras.31  Beer 
was  likewise  brewed  in  a  small  way  by  James  Yea- 
man,  two  or  three  years  later.33  In  February, 
1803,  O'Hara  and  Coppinger,  who  had  acquired 
the  "Point  Brewery,"  began  brewing  beer  on  a 
larger  scale.33 

In  the  taverns  men  met  to  consummate  their 
business,  and  to  discuss  their  political  and  social 
affairs.  Lodge  No.  45  of  Ancient  York  Masons 
met  in  the  taverns  for  many  years,  as  did  the  Me- 
chanical Society.  Even  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
the  Academy  held  their  meetings  there.34  Re- 
ligion itself,  looked  with  a  ^friendly  eye  on  the 
taverns.  In  the  autumn  of  1785,  the  Rev.  Wilson 
Lee,  a  Methodist  missionary,  appeared  in  Pitts- 
burgh, and  preached  in  John  Ormsby's  tavern,35 
on  Water  Street,  at  his  ferry  landing,36  at 
what  is  now  the  northeast  corner  of  that  street 
and  Ferry  Street.  This  was  the  same  double 
log  house  which,  while  conducted  by  Samuel 
Semple,  was  in  1770  patronized  by  Colonel 
George  Washington.37 

Tavern  keeping  and  liquor  selling  were  of  such 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century    79 

respectability  that  many  of  the  most  esteemed 
citizens  were,  or  had  been  tavern-keepers,  or  had 
sold  liquors,  or  distilled  whisky,  or  brewed  beer. 
Jeremiah  Sturgeon  was  a  member  of  the  session 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.38  John  Reed,  the 
proprietor  of  the  "Sign  of  the  Waggon,"  in  ad- 
dition to  being  a  leading  member  of  the  Jockey 
Club,  and  the  owner  of  the  race  horse  "Young 
Messenger,"39  was  precentor  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  on  Sundays  "lined  out  the  hymns" 
and  led  the  singing.40  The  pew  of  William  Mor- 
row is  marked  on  the  diagram  of  the  ground-plan 
of  the  church  as  printed  in  its  Centennial  Volume.*1 
The  "Sign  of  the  Cross  Keys,"  the  emblem  of 
Sturgeon's  tavern,  was  of  religious  origin  and  was 
much  favored  in  England.  Although  used  by  a 
Presbyterian,  it  was  the  arms  of  the  Papal  See, 
and  the  emblem  of  St.  Peter  and  his  successors. 
That  the  way  to  salvation  lay  through  the  door 
of  the  tavern,  would  seem  to  have  been  intended 
to  be  indicated  by  the  "Sign  of  the  Cross  Keys." 
William  Eichbaum,  a  pillar  in  the  German  church, 
after  he  left  the  employ  of  O'Hara  and  Craig, 
conducted  a  tavern  on  Front  Street,  near  Market, 


80  Pittsburgh 

at  the  "Sign  of  the  Indian  Queen."  The  owners 
of  the  ferries  kept  taverns  in  connection  with  their 
ferries.  Ephraim  Jones  conducted  a  tavern  at  his 
ferry  landing  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mononga- 
hela  River;  Robert  Henderson  had  a  tavern  on 
Water  Street  at  his  ferry  landing ;  Samuel  Emmett 
kept  a  tavern  at  his  landing  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Monongahela  River ;  and  James  Robinson  had 
a  tavern  on  the  Franklin  Road  at  the  northerly 
terminus  of  his  ferry.42 

Drinking  was  universal  among  both  men  and 
women.  Judge  James  Veech  declared  that  whisky 
"was  the  indispensable  emblem  of  hospitality  and 
the  accompaniment  of  labor  in  every  pursuit, 
the  stimulant  in  joy  and  the  solace  in  grief.  It 
was  kept  on  the  counter  of  every  store  and  in  the 
corner  cupboard  of  every  well-to-do  family.  The 
minister  partook  of  it  before  going  to  church,  and 
after  he  came  back.  At  home  and  abroad,  at 
marryings  and  buryings,  at  house  raisings  and 
log  rollings,  at  harvestings  and  huskings,  it  was 
the  omnipresent  beverage  of  old  and  young,  men 
and  women;  and  he  was  a  churl  who  stinted  it. 
To  deny  it  altogether  required  more  grace  or 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century   81 

niggardliness  than  most  men  could  command,  at 
least  for  daily  use."43 

A  practical  joke  perpetrated  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  McMillan,  on  the  Rev.  Joseph  Patterson,  an- 
other of  the  early  ministers  in  this  region,  illus- 
trates the  custom  of  drinking  among  the  clergy. 
On  their  way  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Synod, 
the  two  men  stopped  at  a  wayside  inn  and  called 
for  whisky,  which  was  set  before  them.  Mr.  Pat- 
terson asked  a  blessing  which  was  rather  lengthy. 
Dr.  McMillan  meanwhile  drank  the  whisky,  and 
to  Mr.  Patterson's  blank  look  remarked  blandly, 
"You  must  watch  as  well  as  pray!"44 

Families  purchased  whisky  and  laid  it  away  in 
their  cellars  for  future  consumption,  and  that  it 
might  improve  with  age.  Judge  Hugh  Henry 
•  Brackenridge  declared  that  the  visit  of  the  "  Whisky 
Boys" — as  the  Insurgents  from  Braddocksfield 
were  called — to  Pittsburgh  cost  him  "four  barrels 
of  old  whisky."45  The  statement  caused  Henry 
Adams,  -in  his  life  of  Albert  Gallatin,  to  volunteer 
the  assertion  that  it  nowhere  appeared  "how 
much  whisky  the  western  gentleman  usually  kept 
in  his  house."46 

6 


82  Pittsburgh 

There  was  no  legislation  against  selling  liquors 
on  Sundays.  The  only  law  on  the  subject  was  an 
old  one  under  which  persons  found  drinking  and 
tippling  in  ale-houses,  taverns,  and  other  public 
houses  on  Sundays,  were  liable  to  be  fined  one 
shilling  and  sixpence;  and  the  keepers  of  the 
houses  upon  conviction  were  required  to  pay  ten 
shillings.  The  line  of  demarcation  between 
proper  and  improper  drinking  being  faint,  the 
law  proved  ineffectual  to  prevent  drinking  on 
Sundays. 

Religion  had  not  kept  pace  with  material  pro- 
gress. The  people  had  been  too  much  engrossed 
in  secular  affairs  to  attend  to  spiritual  matters. 
They  were  withal  generous,  and  practiced  the 
Christian  virtues ;  and  never  failed  to  help  their  un- 
fortunate neighbors.  This  disposition  was  mani- 
fested in  various  ways.  Losses  by  fire  were  of 
frequent  occurrence  and  were  apt  to  cause  distress 
or  ruin  to  those  affected.  In  these  cases  the  citi- 
zens always  furnished  relief.  An  instance  where 
this  was  done  was  in  the  case  of  William  Thorn. 
Thorn  was  a  cabinet-maker  on  Market  Street, 
and  built  windmills  and  Dutch  fans.47  When 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century   83 

the  house  which  he  occupied  was  burned  to  the 
ground  and  he  lost  all  his  tools  and  valuable 
ready-made  furniture,  a  liberal  subscription  was 
made  by  the  citizens,  and  he  was  enabled  to 
again  commence  his  business.48 

But  there  was  little  outward  observance  of  re- 
ligious forms.  The  Germans  had  made  some  pro- 
gress in  that  direction.  The  little  log  building 
where  they  worshipped  had  been  succeeded  by  a 
brick  church.  The  only  English  church  was  the 
Presbyterian  Meeting  House  facing  on  Virgin 
Alley,  now  Oliver  Avenue,  erected  in  1786.  It 
was  the  same  building  of  squared  timbers  in  which 
the  congregation  had  orginally  worshipped.  From 
1789  to  1793,  the  church  had  languished  greatly. 
There  was  no  regular  pastor;  services  were  held 
at  irregular  and  widely  separated  intervals.  Two 
of  the  men  who  served  as  supplies  left  the  ministry 
and  became  lawyers.49  From  1793  to  1800,  the 
church  was  all  but  dead.  The  house  was  deserted 
and  falling  into  ruin.  Only  once,  so  far  as  there 
is  any  record,  were  Presbyterian  services  held  in 
the  building  during  this  period.  It  was  in  1799 
that  the  Rev.  Francis  Herron,  passing  through 


84  Pittsburgh 

Pittsburgh,  was  induced  to  deliver  a  sermon  to  a 
congregation  consisting  of  fifteen  or  eighteen  per- 
sons "much  to  the  annoyance  of  the  swallows," 
as  Herron  ingenuously  related,  which  had  taken 
possession  of  the  premises.50 

A  light  had  flashed  momentarily  in  the  darkness 
when  John  Wrenshall,  the  father  of  Methodism  in 
Pittsburgh,  settled  in  the  town.  Wrenshall  was 
an  Englishman  who  came  to  Pittsburgh  in  1796 
and  established  a  mercantile  business.  He  was 
converted  to  Wesleyanism  in  England  and  had 
been  a  local  preacher  there.  As  there  was  no 
minister  or  preaching  of  any  kind  in  Pittsburgh, 
he  commenced  holding  services  in  the  Presbyterian 
Meeting  House.  His  audiences  increased,  but 
after  a  few  Sundays  of  active  effort,  a  padlock 
was  placed  on  the  door  of  the  church,  and  he 
was  notified  that  the  house  was  no  longer  at 
his  disposal.  The  Presbyterians  might  not  hold 
services  themselves,  but  they  would  not  permit 
the  use  of  their  building  to  adherents  of  the 
new  sect  of  Methodists,  "the  offspring  of  the 
devil." 

A  great  religious  revival  swept  over  the  Western 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century    85 

country  in  the  concluding  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  In  Kentucky  it  developed  into  hys- 
teria,51 and  in  Western  Pennsylvania  the  display 
of  religious  fervor  was  scarcely  less  intense.52 
The  effect  was  felt  in  Pittsburgh.  On  October 
24,  1800,  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette  was  moved  to 
ask  the  Presbyterian  congregation,  of  which  its 
proprietor  was  a  leading  member,  a  number  of 
pertinent  questions:  Could  they  hope  for  good 
morals  without  religion  or  the  fear  of  God;  could 
religion  be  maintained  without  public  worship; 
had  they  a  house  in  which  public  worship  could 
be  performed  with  decency  and  convenience? 
Were  they  not  able  to  erect  a  respectable  and  com- 
modious church  building,  as  well  as  to  provide 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  minister?  Would  not 
money  so  employed  "be  more  for  the  benefit  of 
the  town  than  horse  racing,  billiard  playing,  etc., 
etc.?"  The  answer  of  the  congregation  was  to 
procure  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  Robert 
Steele  as  supply  and  the  church  began  to  show 
signs  of  life  again.  In  April,  1802,  Steele  was 
received  as  a  member  of  the  Presbytery,  the  action 
being  approved  by  the  Synod  in  the  following 


86  Pittsburgh 

September. s  3  From  that  time  forward,  the  church 
began  that  spiritual  and  material  advancement 
— although  there  were  ebbs  and  flows  in  its  pro- 
gress— which  has  continued  to  this  day. 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  IV 

1    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  28,  1800. 

1     Tree  of  Liberty,  August  23,  1800. 

3    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  10,  1800. 

«    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  2,  1793. 

s  PERRIN  DuLAC.  Voyage  dans  les  Deux  Louisianes,  Lyon, 
an  xiii.  [1805],  p.  131. 

6  H.  H.  BRACKENRIDGE.  Gazette  Publications,  Carlisle,  1806, 
p.  12. 

i  Centennial  Volume  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  Pittsburgh,  1884,  p.  154. 

8  CHARLES  J.  SHERRILL.  "Dancing  and  Other  Social  Customs," 
Scribner's  Magazine,  New  York,  April,  1915,  vol.  Ivii., 
pp.  479-490. 

'    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  20,  1798. 

10  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  3,  1800. 

11  Pittsburgh   Gazette,  October    29,    1802;    Pittsburgh   Gazette, 

August  25,  1798. 

"  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  20,  1798. 

13  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  25,  1801. 

z«  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  6,  1801. 

15  Tree  of  Liberty,  February  19,  1803. 

16  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  7,  1803. 

17  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  21,  1803. 

18  H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.     Recollections  of  Persons  and  Places 

in  the  West,  Philadelphia,  1868,  p.  60. 
'»     Tree  of  Liberty,  July  11,  1801;   Pittsburgh  Gazette,  July  13, 

1793- 
ao    H.  H.  BRACKENRIDGE.     Incidents  of  the  Insurrection  in  the 

Western  Parts  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  1795,  p.  66. 

87 


88  Pittsburgh 

"    S.  JONES.    Pittsburgh  in  the  Year  1826,  Pittsburgh,  1826, 

pp.  43-44- 
32    H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.    Recollections  of  Persons  and  Places 

in  the  West,  Philadelphia,  1868,  p.  62. 
23     Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  9,  1786. 
a<    H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.     Recollections  of  Persons  and  Places 

in  the  West,  Philadelphia,  1868,  p.  62. 
3  s     Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  28,  1802. 
a6     Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  25,  1801. 
"     Tree  of  Liberty,  April  n,  1801. 

28     Tree  of  Liberty,  April  n,  1801;  ibid.,  January  9,  1802. 
a»     Tree  of  Liberty,  December  27,  1800. 

30  P.  CUMING.     Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  in 

1807-1809,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  222. 

31  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  14,  1795. 

32  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  28,  1801;  ibid.,  August  5,  1803. 

33  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  February  3,  1803. 

3<  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  16,  1799;  ibid.,  May  3,  1800; 
ibid.,  November  26,  1802. 

35  Centennial  Celebration  of  Pittsburgh  Methodism,  1888,  p.  63. 

36  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  26,  1786. 

J7  JAMES  VEECH.  "The  Secular  History,"  Centenary  Memorial 
of  the  Planting  and  Growth  of  Presbyterianism  in  Western 
Pennsylvania  and  Parts  Adjacent,  Pittsburgh,  1876,  p.  320. 

38  Centennial  Volume  of  the  First  Presbyteri-an  Church  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1784-1884,  Pittsburgh,  1884,  p.  212. 

3»     Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  2,  1802. 

<°  Centennial  Volume  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1784-1884,  Pittsburgh,  1884,  p.  154. 

*J  Centennial  Volume  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1784-1884,  Pittsburgh,  1884,  p.  155. 

<2    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  13,  1803. 

<3  JAMES  VEECH.  "The  Secular  History,"  Centenary  Memorial 
of  the  Planting  and  Growth  of  Presbyterianism  in  Western 
Pennsylvania  and  Parts  Adjacent,  Pittsburgh,  1876,  p.  364. 

««  REV.  D.  X.  JUNKIN,  D.D.  "The  Life  and  Labors  of  the 
Rev.  John  McMillan,  D.D.,"  Centenary  Memorial  of  the 
Planting  and  Growth  of  Presbyterianism  in  Western  Penn- 
sylvania and  Parts  Adjacent,  Pittsburgh,  1876,  p.  33. 

*s  H.  H.  BRACKENRIDGE.  Incidents  of  the  Insurrection  in  the 
Western  Parts  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  1795,  p.  71. 


At  Beginning  of  Nineteenth  Century   89 

«6  HENRY  ADAMS.  The  Life  of  Albert  Gallatin,  Philadelphia, 
1880,  p.  130. 

«?    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  12, 1800. 

*8    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  February  27,  1801. 

49  Centennial  Volume  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1784-1884,  Pittsburgh,  1884,  p.  28. 

s°  REV.  WILLIAM  M.  PAXTON.  Two  Discourses  upon  the  Life 
and  Character  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Herron,  D.D.,  Pittsburgh, 
1861,  p.  28. 

sx  RICHARD  McNEMAR.  The  Kentucky  Revival,  Albany,  1808, 
pp.  9-72. 

s*  DAVID  ELLIOTT.  The  Life  of  the  Rev.  Elisha  Macurdy,  Alle- 
gheny, 1848,  pp.  55-78. 

S3  Centennial  Volume  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1784-1884,  Pittsburgh,  1884,  p.  32. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  SEAT  OF  POWER 

THE  year  1800  ushered  in  more  than  a  new 
century  in  Pittsburgh.  It  heralded  the 
beginning  of  another  era.  The  decade 
beginning  with  that  year  will  ever  be  memorable 
in  the  annals  of  the  city.  During  those  ten  years 
the  foundation  was  laid  on  which  the  great  in- 
dustrial city  was  subsequently  built.  In  1800  the 
population  of  Pittsburgh  was  1565,  and  in  1810 
it  had  risen  to  4768,  an  increase  of  204  per  centum, 
which  was  the  greatest  percentage  of  increase  that 
has  ever  taken  place  in  its  history.  This  decade 
marked  the  dividing  line  between  that  which  was 
obsolete  and  that  which  was  newly-born. 

In  1803,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  First  Consul  of 
France,  ceded  to  the  United  States  the  vast  Lou- 
isiana Territory,  whereby  the  area  of  this  country 

90 


The  Seat  of  Power  91 

was  more  than  doubled,  and  commerce  between 
Louisiana  and  Pittsburgh  increased  tremendously. 
As  far  back  as  1791,  Alexander  Hamilton,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  had  communicated  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  his  famous  report 
of  manufactures.  In  this  far-away  community, 
with  coal  at  its  doors,  and  iron  in  the  near-by 
mountains,  Hamilton's  new  doctrine  found  willing 
disciples  and  industry  had  more  than  a  beginning. 
Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
iron  ore  was  mined  in  the  Juniata  Valley,  and 
furnaces  and  forges  established,  and  bar  iron 
and  castings  made.  The  iron  was  carried  to 
Pittsburgh,  partly  on  horseback,  and  partly  by 
water,  down  the  Conemaugh  and  Allegheny  Rivers. 
Small  shops  for  the  manufacture  of  articles  of 
iron  were  opened.  Shortly  afterward  iron  ore 
was  also  mined  in  the  counties  of  Fayette  and 
Westmoreland  and  furnaces  and  forges  built  and 
iron  produced.  The  distance  being  shorter  from 
Fayette  and  Westmoreland  Counties  than  from 
the  Juniata  Valley,  iron  was  thereafter  brought 
to  Pittsburgh  only  from  the  former  districts. 
The  iron  shops  increased  in  number.  Coal  was 


92  Pittsburgh 

the  pole  star  which  lighted  the  way  to  their  estab- 
lishment. A  writer  who  saw  the  advantages  of 
Pittsburgh  with  the  eyes  of  a  Munchausen,  writing 
of  the  value  of  its  coal,  declared,  that  the  blaze 
afforded  "so  strong  a  light,  that  in  winter,  .  .  . 
neither  tailors,  or  other  mechanics  burn  candles."1 
At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  black 
smoke  of  the  iron  shops,  the  glass  manufactory, 
the  boat  yards,  the  distillery,  the  brewery,  the 
tanneries,  the  brickyards,  and  the  increasing  num- 
ber of  dwelling  houses  had  already  given  the  town 
a  sombre  hue.  Industry  went  forward  with  leaps 
and  bounds,  and  manufactories  on  a  larger  scale 
were  set  up.  They  were  insignificant,  if  compared 
with  even  the  medium-sized  establishments  of 
to-day,  but  were  large  and  important  in  the  eyes 
of  people  who,  prior  to  the  American  Revolution, 
had  been  practically  prohibited  from  engaging 
in  any  manufacturing  by  their  English  masters. 
Cotton  mills  were  established,  as  were  iron  found- 
ries, nail  factories,  engine  shops,  a  tinware  manu- 
factory, a  pipe  manufactory,  and  in  1808  a  second 
glass  works,  that  of  Robinson  &  Ensell.2  The 
extent  of  the  plants  can  be  gauged,  when  it  is 


The  Seat  of  Power  93 

known  that  one  of  the  nail  factories  employed 
thirty  men,  the  tinware  manufactory  twenty-eight 
men,  and  one  of  the  cotton  mills  twelve  men.3 

In  1804,  the  Bank  of  Pennsylvania  opened  a 
branch  in  Pittsburgh.  A  stage  line  from  Cham- 
bersburgh  to  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  was 
placed  in  operation  in  the  spring  of  i8o3-4  In 
1804  this  was  extended  to  Pittsburgh,  the  first 
coach  from  Pittsburgh  to  Philadelphia  being  run 
on  July  4th. 

Religion  was  now  keeping  pace  with  the  in- 
crease in  population  and  the  growth  in  material 
prosperity.  Hitherto  those  who  were  religiously 
inclined  were  obliged  to  attend  the  services  of 
either  the  German  or  the  Presbyterian  church. 
Other  churches  were  now  brought  into  existence. 
The  Episcopalians  formed  an  organization  in  1805, 
under  the  name  of  "Trinity  Church,"  and  began 
the  erection  of  their  brick  octagonal  building,  on 
the  lot  bounded  by  Liberty,  Seventh,  and  Wood 
streets,  which  was  a  landmark  in  its  day. 

Ever  since  the  English  occupancy,  the  popula- 
tion had  been  Protestant  in  religion,  although 
Protestantism  in  the  early  days  signified  little 


94  Pittsburgh 

more  than  a  stout  opposition  to  Roman  Catholi- 
cism. The  Presbyterians,  who  constituted  the 
bulk  of  the  English-speaking  Protestants,  had 
looked  askance  when  the  Episcopalians,  whom 
they  regarded  as  closely  akin  to  Roman  Catholics, 
formed  their  church  organization.  When  it  was 
rumored  that  Roman  Catholic  services  were  to 
be  held,  they  shook  their  heads  still  more  doubt- 
fully. Prior  to  1800  there  was  hardly  a  professed 
Roman  Catholic  in  Pittsburgh.  In  1804,  the 
number  was  still  so  small  that  when  the  mis- 
sionary priest  and  former  Russian  prince  and 
soldier,  Demetrius  Augustine  Gallitzen,  came  and 
celebrated  mass,  there  were  only  fifteen  persons 
present  to  assist.5  In  1808,  a  congregation  was 
formed,  and  the  next  year  a  one-story  brick 
chapel  was  erected6  at  the  southeast  corner  of 
Liberty  and  Washington  streets,  Washington 
Street  then  extending  to  Liberty  Street.  The 
site  is  now  occupied  by  the  entrance  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Station.  Practically  all  the  parish- 
ioners were  Irish,  and  it  was  natural  that  the  new 
edifice  should  be  named  "St.  Patrick's  Church." 
The  Methodists  organized  a  congregation  at  the 


The  Seat  of  Power  95 

same  time  as  the  Roman  Catholics,7  and  in  1810 
erected  a  small  brick  building  on  Front  Street 
below  Smithfield,  opposite  the  lower  end  of  the 
site  at  present  occupied  by  the  Monongahela 
House.8  The  Baptists  were  growing  in  numbers 
and,  although  lacking  a  church  organization,  met 
at  one  another's  houses,  and  listened  to  the  exhor- 
tations of  traveling  missionaries  of  that  faith.9 

The  Freemasons  must  be  credited  with  a  move- 
ment, inaugurated  at  this  time,  which  was  to 
have  a  far-reaching  effect.  The  meetings  of 
Lodge  No.  45  in  the  taverns  had  been  conducive 
of  almost  everything  except  sobriety.  The  effects 
were  degrading,  and  in  many  cases  injurious,  not 
only  to  the  persons  affected  but  to  their  dependents 
as  well.  Also  the  evil  was  growing,  and  was  con- 
trary to  the  expressed  ideals  of  the  order.  Practi- 
cally all  the  leaders  in  the  village,  whether  in  public 
or  private  life,  had  been  or  were  still  members 
of  the  lodge.  Among  the  older  members  were 
General  Richard  Butler  and  his  brother,  Colonel 
William  Butler,  General  John  Neville,  Judge  Hugh 
Henry  Brackenridge,  Captain  Joseph  Ashton, 
John  Ormsby,  Colonel  James  O'Hara,  Captain 


96  Pittsburgh 

Michael  Hufnagle,  Major  Isaac  Craig,  Senator 
James  Ross,  Samuel  Ewalt,  and  Captain  John 
Irwin.  Younger  members  were  Dr.  Andrew  Rich- 
ardson, Dr.  Hugh  Scott,  William  Wusthoff, 
Anthony  Beelen,  Thomas  Baird,  James  Riddle, 
Tarleton  Bates,  Rev.  Robert  Steele,  and  Henry 
Baldwin.  It  is  not  surprising  that  such  men 
should  sooner  or  later  realize  the  calamity  which 
confronted  the  members  of  the  lodge,  and  decide 
upon  eliminating  the  cause.  The  change  was 
effected  upon  the  completion  of  William  Irwin 's 
brick  house,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Market 
Street  and  the  West  Diamond,  just  prior  to  the 
opening  of  the  new  century.  Thenceforth  the 
meetings  of  the  lodge  were  held  in  a  room  on 
the  third  floor  of  this  building,  and  the  temptation 
to  excessive  drinking  was  at  least  farther  removed 
than  when  the  sessions  were  being  held  in  the 
"Sign  of  the  Green  Tree."  This  was  the  first 
practical  temperance  movement  in  Pittsburgh. 

Market  Street  was  one  of  the  narrowest  streets 
in  the  town,  but  was  the  principal  commercial 
thoroughfare.  Coincidentally  it  was  called  "  Main 
Street."  It  received  the  name  by  which  it  has 


The  Seat  of  Power  97 

been  known  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter, 
from  the  fact  that  the  first  market  house,  erected 
in  1787,  was  located  at  the  northwest  corner  of 
this  street  and  Second  Street.  In  1800  the  street 
was  bustling  with  life.  More  drays  and  carts 
and  wagons  were  moving  over  at  least  a  portion 
of  the  thoroughfare  than  is  the  case  to-day.  In- 
termingled with  the  other  vehicles  were  wagons 
from  the  country,  drawn  by  oxen.  In  wet  weather 
the  roadway  was  ground  into  mud  and  thin  mire. 
The  merchants  generally  lived  with  their  families 
in  the  houses  where  their  business  was  conducted. 
The  street  was  noisy  with  children.  Trees,  grew 
on  the  outer  edges  of  the  foot-walks,  and  in  the 
summer  grass  and  weeds  sprang  up,  watered  by 
the  street  wells  and  pumps  that  supplied  the 
residents  with  water. 

Most  of  the  prominent  people  lived  on  Market 
Street.  Judge  Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge,  although 
often  absent  from  Pittsburgh  in  the  performance  of 
his  judicial  duties,  maintained  his  residence  on 
the  street,  until  August  24,  1801,  when  he  removed 
with  his  family  to  Carlisle.10  All  but  one  of  the 
physicians  were  located  there.  Here  the  leading 


98  Pittsburgh 

mercantile  establishments  were  concentrated. 
Open  spaces  still  intervened  between  the  houses, 
and  there  were  gardens,  inclosed  with  fences 
painted  white,  in  which  flowers  bloomed  and 
vegetables  flourished,  but  the  spaces  were  rapidly 
being  built  upon.  Everywhere  the  sounds  of 
hammer  and  saw  greeted  the  ear,  and  heaps  of 
brick  and  beds  of  mortar  encumbered  the  street. 
•  Public  improvements  were  commenced:  Market 
and  Wood  streets  were  being  paved,  as  was  Chan- 
cery Lane  from  the  Monongahela  River  to  Second 
Street.  Front  and  Third  streets  were  being 
graveled  from  Market  to  Wood  Street,  as  was 
also  Diamond  Alley.11  The  price  of  land  was 
advancing.  The  Penns  had  sold  most  of  the  lots 
fronting  on  Market  Street,  in  1785,  at  the  average 
price  of  ten  pounds  each  in  Pennsylvania  currency, 
a  pound  being  equal  to  two  dollars  and  sixty-six 
and  two- thirds  cents  in  United  States  money 
of  the  present  value.  The  lots  were  of  varying 
dimensions:  some  had  a  front  on  Market  Street 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  and  a  depth  of 
eighty  feet,  while  others  had  fronts  of  from  fifty- 
six  to  eighty  feet,  and  were  of  different  depths. 


The  Seat  of  Power  99 

In  1789  and  1790,  respectively,  two  lots  were  sold 
for  fifty  pounds  each.  In  1791,  two  others  were 
sold  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  each. 
In  1793,  a  lot  on  the  East  Diamond,  where  values 
had  not  appreciated  to  the  same  extent  as  on 
Market  Street,  was  sold  for  one  hundred  pounds. 
After  1800,  the  lots  began  to  be  subdivided,  and 
still  higher  prices  prevailed,  and  they  continued 
to  advance  year  by  year. 

The  Act  of  Congress  of  July  6,  1785,  established 
a  national  currency,  the  unit  being  a  dollar,  equal 
in  value  to  the  Spanish  milled  dollar.  The  Span- 
ish milled  dollar  had  been  in  circulation  in  this 
country  for  many  years,  and  was  the  expressed 
unit  in  the  paper  money  and  other  obligations, 
authorized  by  Congress  since  the  first  year  of  the 
Revolution.  The  United  States  mint,  however, 
was  not  authorized  until  the  passage  of  the  Act  of 
Congress  of  April  2,  1792,  and  the  first  coinage  of 
silver  and  gold  did  not  take  place  until  two  years 
later.  During  this  interval  the  circulating  medium 
was  mainly  Spanish  silver  money  and  the  con- 
sideration mentioned  in  conveyances  was  usually 
in  the  Spanish  milled  dollar.  In  1801,  a  lot  having 


ioo  Pittsburgh 

a  front  on  Market  Street  of  thirty  feet  and  a  depth 
of  seventy  feet,  was  sold  for  six  hundred  and  twelve 
dollars  and  fifty  cents;  in  1803,  a  lot  having  a  front 
of  forty-six  feet  and  a  depth  of  seventy  feet  was 
sold  for  thirteen  hundred  dollars.  In  1804,  an 
undivided  fourth  interest  in  a  lot  having  a  front 
of  fifty-six  feet,  and  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet,  was  sold  for  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-five  dollars.  In  1805,  a  half  interest  in  a 
lot  also  having  a  front  of  fifty-six  feet,  and  a  depth 
of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  was  sold  for 
twelve  hundred  dollars.  In  1806,  an  eighth  inter- 
est in  a  lot  having  a  front  of  fifty-six  feet,  and  a 
depth  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet,  was 
sold  for  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars. 
In  1807,  a  sixth  interest  in  a  lot  having  a  front 
of  fifty-six  feet,  and  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet,  was  sold  for  six  hundred  and 
sixty-six  dollars  and  sixty-six  cents. 

Most  of  the  houses  were  built  on  land  leased 
from  the  owners,  or  on  lots  subject  to  the  payment 
of  ground  rents,  which  accounted  to  some  extent 
for  the  inferior  quality  of  the  improvements.  The 
number  of  brick  houses  on  Market  Street  was  still 


The  Seat  of  Power  101 

so  limited  that  the  merchants  were  fond  of  refer- 
ring to  the  fact  that  the  establishments  conducted 
by  them  were  located  in  a  "brick  house"  or  "next 
door  to,"  or  "across  the  street  from,"  a  "brick 
house." 

A  majority  of  the  merchants  and  professional 
men  on  the  street  were  young,  or  at  least  had  not 
arrived  at  middle  age.  Like  all  the  men  in  new 
communities,  they  were  possessed  of  unbounded 
energy,  which  found  vent  in  their  business  affairs, 
in  a  desire  for  pleasure,  and  in  an  inordinate  am- 
bition for  political  preferment.  Perhaps  it  was 
owing  to  this  cause,  that  the  number  of  town  and 
other  offices  were  so  numerous.  The  town  officers 
were  a  chief  burgess,  a  burgess  and  four  assistant 
burgesses,  a  town  clerk,  a  high  constable,  two 
assessors,  and  two  supervisors.  The  duties  of  the 
assistant  burgesses  were  to  assist  the  chief  burgess 
and  the  burgess  in  the  performance  of  their  duties. r  a 
The  justices  of  the  peace  were  even  more  plentiful 
than  the  town  officers.  They  were  appointed 
by  the  governor  and  held  office  during  good  be- 
havior, which  was  practically  for  life.  Appoint- 
ments were  constantly  made,  usually  as  a  reward 


102  Pittsburgh 

for  party  fealty,  and  there  being  a  dearth  of  deaths 
among  those  in  office,  the  number  of  justices  of 
the  peace  had  become  inordinately  large.  There 
was  also  a  cause  peculiar  to  Pittsburgh,  for  the 
craving  for  office.  The  legislative  acts  of  the 
borough  were  performed  at  Town  Meetings  held 
in  the  court  house  by  the  "Burgesses,  Freeholders, 
and  Inhabitants,  householders,"  at  which  all  the 
male  adults  whether  citizens  or  aliens13  who  had 
resided  in  the  place  for  a  year,  had  a  voice. 
In  1800,  there  were  nearly  two  hundred  qualified 
electors  who  had  a  right  to  participate  in  the 
Town  Meetings,14  and  practically  the  entire  num- 
ber were  politicians.  A  desire  for  the  glare  of 
public  life  developed,  and  the  creation  of  offices 
resulted. 

Considering  the  extent  of  the  town  and  the 
number  of  the  inhabitants,  the  stores  were  nu- 
merous, there  being,  in  1803,  forty- nine  stores 
and  shops.15  The  explanation  was  that  much 
of  the  trade  of  Pittsburgh  was  with  travelers 
passing  through  the  place,  and  with  settlements 
farther  west  and  south.  The  travelers  were  fre- 
quently delayed  for  long  periods.  Owing  to  the 


The  Seat  of  Power  103 

lack  of  a  sufficient  stage  of  water  in  the  rivers, 
as  high  as  a  hundred  boats,  each  carrying  an 
average  of  twelve  emigrants,  were  sometimes  tied 
up  along  the  Monongahela  River  between  Pitts- 
burgh and  New  Geneva,  and  as  many  more 
along  the  Allegheny.16  The  various  supplies 
required  while  there  and  for  the  further  jour- 
ney were  furnished  by  the  merchants  of  the 
town. 

The  stores  were  usually  what  is  termed  "general 
stores,"  where  everything  necessary  for  the  use  of 
pioneer  families  could  be  purchased.  Only  a  few 
establishments  dealt  in  special  lines.  On  the 
shelves  were  articles  that  at  present  are  sug- 
gestive of  the  day  in  which  they  were  sold. 
Taken  in  connection  with  the  dress  of  the  people, 
the  food  they  ate,  their  churches,  their  societies, 
their  work,  and  their  amusements,  they  form  a  more 
or  less  complete  outline  picture  of  the  time.  Items 
which  stand  out  in  relief  are  Franklin  stoves, 
chimney  hooks,  window  weights,  brass  and  stock 
locks,  brass  and  iron  candlesticks,  snuffers,  horse 
fleams,  iron  combs,  iron  buttons,  knee  buckles, 
powder  flasks,  American  and  German  gunpowder, 


104  Pittsburgh 

bar  lead  and  shot,  wallowers  for  Dutch  fans,  and 
cards.17  The  sale  of  cards  was  an  industry  of 
importance  in  agricultural  communities.  At  pres- 
ent the  name  is  confusing.  The  civilization  of 
the  day  had  not  developed  business  or  visiting 
cards,  and  if  playing  cards  were  intended  they 
would  have  been  so  designated.  The  cards  sold 
in  Pittsburgh  were  brushes  with  wire  teeth  used 
in  disentangling  fibers  of  wool,  cotton,  and  hemp, 
and  laying  them  parallel  to  one  another  prepara- 
tory to  spinning.  In  1794,  the  advertisement  of 
Adgate  &  Co.,  "at  the  card  manufactory,  corner 
of  Market  and  Water  Streets,"  appeared  in  the 
Pittsburgh  Gazette. l8 

The  occupancy  of  Market  Street  began  at 
Water  Street.  Some  of  the  early  settlers  were 
still  living  in  the  houses  where  they  began  their 
business  life.  Samuel  Ewalt  was  among  the 
earliest  merchants  on  the  street.  His  store  was 
at  the  northeast  corner  of  Market  and  Water 
streets.  He  owned  the  entire  block  on  the  east- 
erly side  of  Market  Street,  between  Water  and 
Front  streets,  his  land  extending  eastwardly  a 
considerable  distance. 


The  Seat  of  Power  105 

On  Water  Street,  one  lot  removed  from  the  west 
side  of  Market  Street,  was  the  home  of  Colonel 
Presley  Neville.  While  a  very  young  man,  living 
in  his  native  Virginia,  he  had  served  as  an  officer 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  During  this  period 
he  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  General  Daniel 
Morgan.  In  Pittsburgh  Colonel  Neville  held 
many  public  positions.  He  had  been  inspector  of 
the  Allegheny  County  brigade  of  militia,  agent 
for  the  United  States  for  receiving  and  storing 
whisky  taken  in  kind  for  the  excise,  a  member  of 
the  Legislature, T  9  and  was  now  surveyor  of  Alle- 
gheny County,20  and  was  engaged  in  selling  town 
lots,  and  lands  in  the  adjacent  townships.21  In 
1803,  he  was  a  candidate  for  chief  burgess,  but  his 
vote  was  a  tie  with  that  of  his  opponent,  Colonel 
James  O'Hara,  who  had  also  been  an  officer  in 
the  Revolution  The  determination  of  the  case 
being  with  the  governor,  the  decision  was  in  favor 
of  Colonel  O'Hara,22  but  under  the  law  Colonel 
Neville  became  burgess.23  Below  Colonel  Ne- 
ville's house,  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Water 
and  Ferry  streets,  was  a  large  two-story  frame 
building  set  in  a  garden.  This  was  the  town  house 


io6  Pittsburgh 

of  General  John  Neville,  the  father  of  Colonel 
Neville.  Like  his  son,  he  was  a  former  Revolu- 
tionary officer;  he  had  been  Inspector  of  the 
Revenue  under  the  excise  law,  during  the  Whisky 
Insurrection.  The  burning  of  his  country  home 
by  the  Insurgents  was  one  of  the  events  of  the 
short-lived  revolt.  On  Water  Street,  one  door 
above  Redoubt  Alley,  was  the  frame  tenement 
house  of  Major  Isaac  Craig.  The  building  had 
become  historic.  It  was  here  that  Alexander 
Hamilton,  Judge  Richard  Peters  of  the  United 
States  District  Court  for  Pennsylvania,  together 
with  the  United  States  District  Attorney,  and  the 
United  States  Marshal,  who  accompanied  the 
army  of  General  Lee  into  Western  Pennsylvania, 
held  court  and  interrogated  Hugh  Henry  Brack- 
enridge,  and  others  suspected  of  fomenting  the 
Whisky  Insurrection. 

West  of  Major  Craig's  home,  a  short  distance 
east  of  West  Alley,  was  the  large  frame  dwelling 
of  Colonel  O'Hara.  O'Hara  was  the  most  enter- 
prising citizen  in  the  town,  and  an  important 
factor  in  its  early  development.  At  one  time  he 
was  engaged  in  almost  a  dozen  enterprises.  He 


The  Seat  of  Power  107 

was  also  the  largest  owner  of  real  estate  both  in 
Pittsburgh,  and  Allegheny  County,  resident  in 
the  borough.  Among  the  older  merchants  were 
William  Christy,  John  Irwin,  and  William  Irwin. 
They  had  formerly  been  partners,  but  the  partner- 
ship had  long  since  been  dissolved,24  and  each  now 
had  a  store  of  his  own.  Christy's  establishment 
was  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Market  and  Water 
streets.  He  sold  all  kinds  of  cloths  and  velvets, 
cassimeres,  corduroys,  and  flannels,  teas,  sugar, 
and  "common  groceries  of  every  denomination."25 
During  the  Virginia  regime,  he  was  a  lieutenant 
in  the  Pittsburgh  militia,  and  in  1802  was  town 
clerk.26  Adjoining  Christy's  store  was  that  of 
Dr.  Andrew  Richardson.  Richardson  was  a  phy- 
sician. At  this  time  physicians  not  only  pre- 
scribed medicines,  but  prepared  and  sold  them, 
and  Richardson  was  no  exception.  His  advertise- 
ment reads  like  that  of  a  latter-day  druggist:  "Oil 
of  Vitriol.  I  have  for  sale  at  my  medical  store  a 
quantity  of  oil  of  vitriol  which  I  will  sell  low  for 
cash.  Also  a  variety  of  drugs  and  medicines 
which  I  will  sell  wholesale  or  retail  at  the  same 
terms."27 


io8  Pittsburgh 

He  was  prominent  in  many  respects.  Besides 
being  a  physician,  he  was  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  a  leader  in  politics.  In  January,  1800, 
Governor  McKean  appointed  him  Register  and 
Recorder  of  Allegheny  County  in  place  of  Samuel 
Jones,  his  Federalist  father-in-law,28  but  he  soon 
relinquished  the  office.  He  was  likewise  a  promi- 
nent Freemason,  being  secretary  of  Lodge  No. 
45,  and  was  well  known  as  a  public  speaker.  At 
the  dinner  given  on  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
inauguration  of  President  Jefferson  he  was  one  of 
the  two  presiding  officers.29  On  St.  John  the 
Evangelist's  Day,  December  27,  1798,  he  delivered 
an  oration  before  Lodge  No.  45,  which  was  con- 
sidered of  such  importance  that  the  lodge  procured 
its  publication  in  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette. 

The  style  was  florid.  Richardson  was  high  in 
the  councils  of  the  Republican  party,  yet  his 
argument  was  that  of  a  Federalist.  It  was  a 
panegyric  on  Freemasonry,  and  an  expression  of 
hope  for  universal  peace  and  love.  Opening 
with  a  review  of  the  conflict  convulsing  Europe 
he  launched  out  into  a  severe  denunciation 
of  the  course  that  France  was  pursuing.  "Al- 


The  Seat  of  Power  109 

ready  hath  nation  arisen  against  nation  in  lawless 
oppression,"  the  orator  proclaimed.  "Already 
hath  our  infant  country  been  threatened  with  a 
final  subjugation."  Continuing  he  asked:  "And 
who  are  those  who  dare  to  usurp  a  superiority 
over  us?  The  French !  Once  the  boast  of  history, 
the  pride  of  the  smiling  page;  but  now  a  band  of 
robbers,  dead  to  every  feeling  of  humanity,  lost 
to  every  virtue;  a  band  of  robbers  whose  lawless 
acts  have  drawn  upon  them  the  just  resentment 
of  our  virtuous  brother,  the  illustrious  Washington, 
who,  though  loaded  with  the  oppressive  weight  of 
sixty-six  years,  stands  ready  once  more  to  un- 
sheath  his  conquering  sword  to  save  his  country 
from  rapine  and  murder.  Shall  he  stand  the 
war  alone?  No,  every  Masonic  heart  will  rush 
like  lightning  to  his  standard,  with  him  conquer, 
or  with  him  die!"30 

Richardson's  outspoken  views  appear  to  have 
caused  an  estrangement  with  the  local  Republican 
leaders,  and  in  1801,  when  he  was  a  candidate  for 
the  State  Senate,  they  were  arrayed  against  him. 
He  was  charged  with  the  unpardonable  sin  of 
reviling  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  idol  of  American 


i  io  Pittsburgh 

public  life.  The  Pittsburgh  Gazette  and  the  Tree 
of  Liberty  contained  frequent  references  to  the 
incident.  Richardson  himself  published  a  card, 
which  was  at  once  evasive  and  apologetic.  He 
was  accused  of  having  three  years  before  drunk  a 
toast,  "Damnation  to  Jefferson  and  his  party," 
in  Marie's  tavern.  He  admitted  having  been  in 
the  tavern  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  but  added: 
"This  much  I  will  say,  that  if  such  a  toast  was 
given  by  me,  it  was  improper,  and  I  must  have 
done  so  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment.  I  can- 
not say  whether  it  was  given  at  all."  The 
Republican  tide  was  too  strong  and  he  was  de- 
feated, and  was  again  defeated  in  1802,  when  a 
candidate  for  representative  to  the  Pennsylvania 
House  of  Representatives,31  and  he  met  with  a 
like  fate  when  a  candidate  for  the  same  office 
in  i8c>3.32  In  August  of  1809  he  died,  a  disap- 
pointed man.33 

In  the  same  block  with  Dr.  Richardson,  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  Market  and  Front  streets, 
were  the  cabinet-makers  and  upholsterers,  Dob- 
bins &  McElhinney.34  Directly  across  Market 
Street  from  Dobbins  &  McElhinney,  was  the 


The  Seat  of  Power  in 

establishment  of  the  Chevalier  Dubac.  The  sign 
gave  no  inkling  of  the  noble  birth  of  the  pro- 
prietor, reading  simply,  "Gabriel  Dubac."35  He 
had  recently  removed  to  this  corner  from  Front 
Street.36  He  has  been  described  as  the  most 
popular  citizen  of  the  village.37  With  his  wines, 
dry  goods,  and  groceries,  he  sold  confectionery. 
His  dog  "Sultan,"  and  his  monkey  "Bijou,"  were 
the  joy  of  the  children.  He  was  an  accomplished 
scholar,  and  possessed  most  polished  manners. 
When  he  closed  his  shop  and  entered  society,  he 
was  the  delight  of  all  with  whom  he  associated. 
He  was  in  the  habit  of  dining  on  Sundays  at 
the  home  of  General  Neville.  When  the  French 
princes,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  afterwards  Louis 
Philippe,  King  of  France,  and  his  two  brothers, 
the  Duke  of  Montpensier  and  the  Count  of  Beau- 
jolais,  visited  Pittsburgh  in  1797,  it  was  the  Cheva- 
lier Dubac  who  assisted  in  making  their  stay 
agreeable. 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  V 

1  "A  Sketch  of  Pittsburgh,"  The  Literary  Magazine,  Phila- 
delphia, October,  1806,  p.  252. 

3    CRAMER'S  Pittsburgh  Almanac  for  1800. 

3  "A  Sketch  of  Pittsburgh,"  The  Literary  Magazine,  Phila- 
delphia, October,  1806,  p.  254. 

*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  13,  1803. 

s  REV.  A.  A.  LAMBING.  A  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
the  Dioceses  of  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny,  New  York,  1880, 
p.  38. 

6  F.  CUMING.  Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  in 
1807-1809,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  69. 

*  F.  CUMING.     Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  in 

1807-1809,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  69. 
8     Centennial  Celebration  of  Pittsburgh  Methodism,  1888,  pp.  66- 

67. 
»    F.  CUMING.     Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  in 

1807-1800,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  69. 

10  Tree  of  Liberty,  August  22,  1801. 

11  F.  CUMING.  '  Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  in 

1807-1800,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  61. 

11  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  22,  1801;  Act  of  September  12, 
1782;  Act  of  April  22,  1794. 

13  Stewart  v.  Foster,  2  Binney,  1 10. 

14  Tree  of  Liberty,  May  23,  1801. 

**  THADDEUS  MASON  HARRIS.  The  Journal  of  a  Tour,  Boston, 
1805,  p.  41. 

16  "A  Sketch  of  Pittsburgh,"  The  Literary  Magazine,  Phila- 
delphia, October,  1806,  p.  253. 

112 


The  Seat  of  Power  113 

Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  23,  1794;  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  Octo- 
ber 10,  1800. 
8    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  July  26,  1794. 
»    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  22,  1798. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  10,  1800. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  28,  1800. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  20,  1803, 
3     Tree  of  Liberty,  December  10,  1803. 
«    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  9,  1789. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  9,  1801. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  21,  1802. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  20,  1 799. 
98    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  25,  1800. 
39    Tree  of  Liberty,  March  13,  1802. 
3°    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  5,  1799. 
J1    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  22,  1802. 
3»     Tree  of  Liberty,  October  22,  1803. 

33  F.  CUMING.     Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  in 

1807-1809,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  71. 

34  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  Spetember  10,  1802. 

35  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  23,  1802. 

*6    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  23,  1801. 

«    MORGAN  NEVILLE.     In  John  F.  Watson's  Annals  of  Phila- 
delphia and  Pennsylvania,   Philadelphia,    1891,   vol.   ii., 
pp.  132-135- 
8 


CHAPTER  VI 

PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  AFFAIRS 

THE  news  and  literary  center  was  between 
Front  and  Second  streets.  Here  the  two 
newspapers  were  published.  John  Scull, 
the  owner  of  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  lived  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Market  and  Front  streets; 
and  on  Front  Street,  immediately  in  the  rear  of 
his  dwelling,  stood  the  small  one-story  building 
where  the  newspaper  was  printed.  In  this  house 
the  post  office  had  been  located  until  1794,  when 
Scull  was  succeeded  as  postmaster  by  George 
Adams,  who  removed  the  post  office  to  the  log 
house  on  Front  Street  near  Ferry.  At  the  norther- 
ly end  of  the  block,  at  the  corner  of  Second  Street, 
was  the  brick  house  of  Dr.  Peter  Mowry,  who  had 
the  largest  medical  practice  in  the  town.  Directly 
across  Market  Street  from  Dr.  Mowry,  Judge 

114 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        115 

Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge  had  erected  for  the 
Tree  of  Liberty,  a  one-story  office,  and  behind  this 
a  building  where  the  paper  was  printed. I 

Judge  Brackenridge's  dwelling  adjoined  the  office 
of  the  Tree  of  Liberty  on  the  south. 2  It  was  a  large 
and  commodious  blue  frame  building  which  had 
been,  until  recently,  surrounded  by  a  paling 
fence.  The  larger  part  was  now  given  over 
to  trade.  It  was  the  best  known  house  in  the 
town.  In  it  General  Lee  had  made  his  head- 
quarters while  in  Pittsburgh  during  the  memora- 
ble days  of  November,  I794.3  In  front  of  this 
building,  Brackenridge,  according  to  his  own 
story,  braved  the  indignation  of  Lee's  troops,  by 
parading  before  them  dressed  in  his  "large  cocked 
hat,  buff  underdress,  and  coat  of  military  blue."4 
On  the  north  side  of  Second  Street,  one  door  west 
of  Chancery  Lane,  stood  William  Turnbull's 
large  two-story  stone  structure,  occupied  during 
the  Whisky  Insurrection  by  William  Semple  as  a 
store.5  Here  also  resided  at  that  time  Colonel 
Presley  Neville.6  General  Daniel  Morgan  lived 
with  his  son-in-law  during  the  stay  of  the  army 
in  Pittsburgh.  From  this  house~General  Morgan 


n6  Pittsburgh 

and  Colonel  Neville  rushed  hatless  to  save  Brack- 
enridge  from  the  fury  of  the  soldiers,  who  Brack- 
enridge  charged  were  planning  his  assassination.7 
In  1804,  the  building  was  occupied  by  the  "Office 
of  Discount  and  Deposit,"  as  the  branch  of  the 
Bank  of  Pennsylvania  was  called.  At  the  corner 
of  Chancery  Lane  adjoining  the  Turnbull  house, 
was  the  home  of  Steele  Semple,  the  famous  advo- 
cate and  wit,  and  connoisseur  of  the  polite  and 
fashionable  literature  of  the  day.8 

In  the  center  of  the  block  in  which  Brackenridge 
lived,  was  the  book  store  and  bindery  of  Zadok 
Cramer,  at  the  "Sign  of  the  Franklin  Head." 
"  Its  ancient  appearance, "  wrote  one  of  its  habitues, 
"is  agreeably  associated  in  the  memory  of  many 
amongst  us  with  our  happiest  moments,  when  the 
careless,  airy  hours  of  youth  were  passing  thought- 
lessly and  cheerfully  away."9  Men  just  as  sub- 
stantial, but  of  less  note,  also  had  establishments 
in  this  square.  At  the  southerly  corner  of  Front 
Street  was  the  large  store  of  Abner  and  Jeffe  Barker 
who  sold  bar  iron  and  castings,10  and  kept  a  "gen- 
eral assortment  of  merchandise  and  boulting 
cloths."11  All  the  merchants  were  selling  "boult- 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        117 

ing  cloths,"  which  were  cloths  used  by  millers 
for  sifting  flour.  Adjoining  Abner  and  Jeffe 
Barker's  store  on  the  north  was  the  establishment 
of  Jeremiah  Barker  who  had  for  sale  a  "handsome 
and  general  assortment  of  the  freshest  goods,"1* 
and  "a  few  boxes  of  glass  eight  by  ten."13  In 
addition  to  being  a  merchant,  Jeremiah  Barker 
was  justice  of  the  peace,  and  in  1801  burgess.14 
The  store  of  Abner  and  Jeffe  Barker,  and  the 
store  of  Jeremiah  Barker,  were  both  on  the  site 
formerly  occupied  by  Andrew  Watson's  tavern. 

On  the  north  side  of  Front  Street,  two  doors 
east  of  Abner  and  Jeffe  Barker's  store,  was  an  old 
two-story  log  building  owned  by  Andrew  Watson. 
It  had  been  formerly  occupied  as  a  store  by 
John  and  Samuel  Calhoun,15  and  when  Allegheny 
County  was  formed,  was  rented  by  the  county  for 
the  use  of  the  courts,  and  called  the  "  Court  House." 
In  this  house  justice  was  dispensed  for  many  years. 
In  December,  1788,  the  first  court  of  quarter 
sessions  for  Allegheny  County  was  held  there, 
George  Wallace  being  president  judge,  and  John 
Scott,  John  Wilkins,  and  John  Johnson  associates. 
They  were  all  laymen,  the  constitution  in  force 


ii8  Pittsburgh 

not  requiring  judges  to  be  learned  in  the  law. 
The  first  court  of  common  pleas  was  held  in  the 
building  on  March  14,  1789. 

The  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  or  at  least 
two  of  them,  were  required  to  go  on  the  circuit 
annually,  visiting  every  county  during  the  in- 
tervals between  the  regular  sessions  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  and  to  hold  courts  of  nisi  prius  and 
Oyer  and  Terminer  for  the  trial  of  capital  cases.16 
In  Pittsburgh  the  sessions  were  held  in  Andrew 
Watson's  house.  Here  Chief  Justice  McKean 
and  Justice  George  Bryan  held  the  first  court  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer  for  Allegheny  County.  Judge 
Henry  M.  Brackenridge  related  that  he  had  been 
informed  that,  at  this  session,  they  sat  in  scarlet 
robes.  He  stated  further  that  when  going  to  and 
returning  from  court  the  judges  were  carefully 
attired  in  black,  with  cocked  hats,  and  were  pre- 
ceded by  the  Sheriff  of  the  County  bearing  a  white 
wand.  Leading  the  procession  was  a  drummer 
beating  a  drum. r  7 

The  first  court  house  was  memorable  for  another 
reason.  It  was  in  the  court  room  that  the  towns- 
people assembled  on  that  eventful  evening  of  the 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        119 

thirty-first  day  of  July,  during  the  stormiest  days 
of  the  Whisky  Insurrection.18  The  mail  from 
Pittsburgh  to  Philadelphia  had  been  robbed  by 
the  Insurgents  and  among  the  letters  taken  were 
several,  written  by  prominent  citizens  of  Pittsburgh, 
which  indicated  a  hostile  spirit  toward  the  insur- 
rection. The  sentiments  expressed  were  consid- 
ered as  reflecting  the  opinion  of  the  town.  The 
rage  of  the  Insurgents  was  now  directed  against 
Pittsburgh.  In  their  wrath  they  characterized  it 
as  another  Sodom,  and  declared  that  they  would 
come  and  destroy  it  with  fire,  and  leave  nothing 
but  smoking  ruins  to  mark  the  spot  where  it  had 
stood.  With  this  end  in  view  they  commenced 
gathering  in  force  at  Braddocksfield.  News  of 
the  sinister  purpose  spread  to  the  town.  Alarm 
grew  into  terror,  and  a  meeting  was  hastily  called 
to  consider  measures  of  protection.  The  meeting 
was  already  in  progress,  when  a  committee  sent 
by  the  Insurgents  arrived  and  announced  that  the 
town  would  be  spared  if  certain  obnoxious  per- 
sons, including  the  writers  of  the  letters  found  in 
the  mail,  were  banished  from  the  town.  They 
reported  that  the  task  of  saving  the  town  would 


120  Pittsburgh 

be  easier  of  accomplishment  if  the  inhabitants 
marched  out  in  a  body  to  meet  the  Insurgents, 
and  by  fraternizing  with  them  show  that  they 
were  not  hostile  to  the  Insurgent  cause.  The 
meeting  deliberated  far  into  the  night,  and  at  two 
o'clock  the  next  morning  arrived  at  a  humiliating 
conclusion.  They  agreed  to  banish  the  men  asked 
for,  and  to  join  the  Insurgents  at  Braddocksfield, 
"as  brethren  to  carry  into  effect  with  them  any 
measure  that  may  seem  to  them  advisable  for  the 
common  cause."  Even  then  the  panic  did  not 
subside.  The  people  refused  to  go  to  bed ;  women 
wept;  valuables  were  hidden,  and  lights  flickered 
in  the  houses  all  night  long. 

At  the  northwest  corner  of  Market  and  Second 
streets,  in  the  three-story  double  brick  building 
owned  by  Colonel  O'Hara,  was  the  store  of  Scott 
&  Trotter,  where  they  sold  "merchandise  of  a 
superior  quality  suitable  to  every  station,  which 
they  are  determined  to  sell  on  very  low  terms  for 
cash,  peltry,  furs,  and  approved  country  produce.  "I9 
Next  door  to  Scott  &  Trotter  was  Dr.  George 
Stevenson.  Like  Dr.  Richardson,  Stevenson  con- 
ducted an  apothecary  shop  and  sold  "drugs,  medi- 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        121 

cines,  surgical  instruments,  etc."20  He  was  a 
former  Revolutionary  officer,  and  had  been  third 
lieutenant  in  the  First  Pennsylvania  Regiment. 
In  1778,  he  resigned  to  study  medicine,  and  re- 
entered  the  service  in  1779  as  surgeon's  mate  with 
the  rank  of  ensign.  In  1798,  he  was  major  in  the 
Tenth  United  States  Regiment.  Stevenson  was 
chief  burgess  in  i8oi.21 

At  the  southwest  corner  of  Market  and  Third 
streets  was  the  "hat  sales  shop"  of  Thomas  and 
Samuel  Magee.22  Here  they  kept  for  sale  the 
beaver,  castor,  and  roram  hats,  which  they  manu- 
factured at  the  corner  of  Front  Street  and  Chan- 
cery Lane.  On  the  opposite  side  of  Market  Street 
from  Scott  &  Trotter  was  William  Herd's  dry 
goods  and  grocery  store.23  Also  on  this  side  of 
Market  Street,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  that 
street  and  Third  Street,  was  another  physician, 
Dr.  Hugh  Scott. 2  4  Then  came  the  store  of  William 
Gazzam,  and  adjoining  was  that  of  William  Bar- 
rett. Farther  on,  Fulton  &  Baird  sold  "soal 
and  upper  leather,"25  and  James  Riddle  had  a 
boot  and  shoe-making  establishment26  and  sold 
"Halifax  soal  leather,  also  boot  legs,  half  and 


122  Pittsburgh 

whole  soals,  and  boot  webbing."27  Another  es- 
tablishment was  that  of  William  Porter  who  had 
a  cut  and  forged  nail  manufactory.28 

Adjoining  Porter  on  the  north  was  the  well- 
known  tavern  of  Mrs.  Mary  Murphy,  commonly 
known  as  "Molly"  Murphy,  the  widow  of  Patrick 
Murphy,  at  the  "Sign  of  General  Butler. "  Begin- 
ning on  April  I,  1800,  and  for  several  years  after- 
ward, the  tavern  was  conducted  by  Richard 
Hancock.29  Next  door  to  the  "Sign  of  General 
Butler,"  and  extending  to  Fourth  Street  at  the 
"Sign  of  the  Negro,"  Joseph  McClurg  sold  dry 
goods,  hardware,  china,  and  glassware,  and  con- 
ducted a  tobacco  manufactory.30  He  also  adver- 
tised as  having  for  sale  "a  large  assortment  of 
window  and  hollow  glass  of  a  superior  quality,  from 
A.  Gallatin,  Esq's.,  glass  works  at  New  Geneva.  "3I 

The  "Sign  of  General  Butler"  was  named  for 
General  Richard  Butler  who  in  his  day  was  the 
most  noted  character  in  Pittsburgh.  He  had 
been  Indian  trader  and  Indian  agent.  In  the 
Revolution  he  was  second  in  command  to  General 
Daniel  Morgan  at  Saratoga,  and  second  in  com- 
mand to  General  Anthony  Wayne  at  Stony  Point. 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        123 

He  was  a  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
of  Allegheny  County32  and  was  the  first  lieuten- 
ant of  the  county,  the  officer  who  at  that  time  was 
commander  of  the  militia.33  He  was  a  member 
of  the  General  Assembly,34  and  met  a  glorious 
death  during  St.  Clair's  unfortunate  expedition 
against  the  Indians  on  the  Miami  River,  on  No- 
vember 4,  I79I.3S  His  name  has  been  commem- 
orated in  that  of  Butler  County.36  His  home 
was  in  the  log  house  situated  on  the  east  side 
of  Marbury,  now  Third  Street,  one  door  south  of 
Penn  Street,  now  Penn  Avenue, 3  7  where  his  widow 
continued  to  reside. 

The  "Sign  of  General  Butler,"  like  the  home  of 
Brackenridge,  became  famous  during  the  Whisky 
Insurrection.  President  Washington  had  ap- 
pointed a  commission  to  meet  the  Insurgents,  and 
procure  their  submission.  It  consisted  of  Senator 
James  Ross,  Attorney  General  William  Bradford, 
also  a  Pennsylvanian,  and  Jasper  Yeates,  a  justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State.  The  com- 
missioners on  the  part  of  Pennsylvania  were  Chief 
Justice  McKean  and  General  William  Irvine. 
The  commission  had  arranged  to  meet  representa- 


124  Pittsburgh 

tives  of  those  in  rebellion,  on  Wednesday,  August 
20,  1794.  Two  days  before  that  date,  the  com- 
missioners took  up  their  lodgings  at  the  "Sign  of 
General  Butler."  When  it  became  known  that 
they  were  at  the  tavern,  a  mob  gathered  before 
it  on  Market  Street,  and  made  their  sentiments 
apparent  by  raising  a  liberty  pole,  the  emblem 
everywhere  in  the  disturbed  districts  of  disaffec- 
tion toward  the  national  government.  A  streamer 
was  fastened  to  the  pole  on  which  were  inscribed 
the  watchwords  of  the  Insurgents: 

"Liberty  and  no  Excise. 
Death  to  Cowards  and  Traitors." 

Judge  Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge  has  stated  that 
it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  and  others  who  were 
influential  with  the  rioters  prevailed  on  them  to 
forego  their  intention  of  placing  on  the  pole  the 
flag  which  had  been  prepared,  bearing  six  stripes, 
emblematical  of  the  six  counties,  five  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  one  in  Virginia,  which  were  threaten- 
ing to  secede  from  the  United  States  and  set  up  a 
government  of  their  own.  That  the  conferences 
which  followed  were  fruitless  is  well  known.  Only 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        125 

one  man  in  attendance  gained  in  reputation. 
Albert  Gallatin  was  on  the  committee  sent  by 
the  Insurgents.  His  ability  and  his  firm  stand 
in  favor  of  law  and  order  won  for  him  everywhere, 
and  particularly  in  Allegheny  and  Washington 
counties,  the  lasting  regard  of  the  citizens.  Two 
months  later  a  member  of  Congress  was  to  be 
elected  in  the  district  composed  of  these  counties, 
and  Insurgents  and  non-insurgents  flocked  to 
Gallatin's  support,  and  to  the  surprise  of  Brack- 
enridge  and  General  John  Woods,  the  other 
candidates,  he  was  elected. 

During  the  occupancy  of  the  "Sign  of  General 
Butler"  by  Richard  Hancock,  James  Hilliard 
had  a  farrier  shop  and  livery  stable,  in  the  stable 
connected  with  the  tavern.38  The  public  contro- 
versy in  which  Hilliard  engaged  his  wife,  is  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  mischievous  result 
of  the  husband's  absolute  control  of  his  wife's 
separate  estate  under  the  existing  laws.  Hilliard 
was  married  to  Elizabeth  Bausman,  a  daughter  of 
Jacob  Bausman,  who  was  possessed  of  property 
in  her  own  right  which  she  had  inherited  from  her 
father.  Hilliard  published  a  notice39  advising  the 


126  Pittsburgh 

public  that  his  wife  had  "absconded  from  his  bed 
and  board,"  and  declaring  that  he  would  not  be 
responsible  for  debts  contracted  by  her.  To  this 
charge  Mrs.  Hilliard  replied  in  a  sharp  letter. 4  °  She 
denied  her  husband's  accusation,  and  stated  that 
she  had  gone  with  her  children,  at  his  request,  on 
a  visit  to  Jacob  Haymaker.  She  charged  Hilliard 
with  having,  during  her  absence,  disposed  of  the 
household  effects,  including  her  wearing  apparel, 
to  John  Smur,  a  tavern  keeper  in  the  town,  and 
that  everything  had  been  taken  away  after  night- 
fall; that  the  articles  were  part  of  her  separate 
estate;  that  now  she  had  "no  bed  nor  board  to  go 
to."  She  asked  that  no  credit  be  extended  to 
Hilliard  on  the  strength  of  her  estate,  and  declared 
that  thereafter  she  would  decline  to  pay  his  debts, 
but  would  use  her  estate  for  her  own  benefit. 
"In  the  future,"  she  concluded,  "it  shall  not  be 
expended  in  paying  his  tavern  bills." 

A  unique  reputation  attached  to  the  houses  in 
this  block  which,  while  descriptive,  was  at  the 
same  time  significant  of  the  political  power  of 
the  occupants  and  their  associates.  Although  the 
houses  were  built  separately,  and  were  of  different 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        127 

types,  they  were  collectively  called  by  the  not- 
over-euphonious  name  of  "Clapboard  Row."  As 
the  name  indicated,  they  were  constructed  of  clap- 
boards. So  well  known  was  "Clapboard  Row" 
that  the  merchants  who  had  their  establishments 
there  were  fond  of  advertising  the  fact.  Prac- 
tically all  the  occupants  were  politicians,  and 
without  exception  belonged  to  the  Republican 
party.  Also  the  "Sign  of  General  Butler"  was 
the  headquarters  of  that  party.  By  their  op- 
ponents, these  leaders  were  termed  the  "Clap- 
board Row  Junto,"  "  junto"  being  an  older  word 
for  "ring."  General  Fowler,  after  he  separated 
from  the  Republican  party,  designated  them  as 
the  " Clapboardonian  Democracy."41  The  Pitts- 
burgh Gazette  charged  that  the  editor  of  the  Tree 
of  Liberty  was  controlled  by  "Clapboard  Row."4* 
Some  were  officeholders,  others  desired  to  be 
such,  and  in  State  and  national  affairs  they  were 
supreme. 

The  members  of  the  "Clapboard  Row  Junto" 
were  men  of  dual  capacity.  Their  energies  were 
devoted  to  their  private  affairs  and  to  politics 
with  equal  intensity.  In  politics  the  smallest 


128  Pittsburgh 

details  received  careful  attention.  Many  of  the 
methods  employed  by  modern  Pittsburgh  poli- 
ticians were  inherited  from  "Clapboard  Row." 
One  of  the  schemes  for  increasing  the  party  vote, 
which  originated  with  "Clapboard  Row,"  was 
to  encourage  and  assist  the  aliens  who  settled  in 
Pittsburgh  to  become  naturalized.  This  was 
done  through  the  medium  of  a  committee  com- 
posed of  Thomas  Baird,  James  Riddle,  and  Joseph 
McClurg.43 

Dr.  Scott  was  high  in  the  favor  of  the  Repub- 
lican leaders,  and  on  the  death  of  George  Adams 
on  April  i,  1801,  was  appointed  postmaster, 
and  established  the  post  office  in  his  store, 
continuing  the  practice  of  medicine  and  the 
sale  of  drugs  as  before.  William  Gazzam  was 
an  aggressive  Irishman,  who  had  been  in  the 
country  only  a  few  years,  but  by  dint  of  perse- 
verance had  pressed  well  forward  in  politics, 
perhaps  to  the  detriment  of  his  business,  as  he 
failed  early  in  his  career.  He  was  brigade  in- 
spector of  the  Allegheny  County  militia,  and 
justice  of  the  peace.  He  aroused  the  ire  of 
General  Fowler,  when  with  other  "Clapboard 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        129 

Row"  politicians  he  refused  to  support  Fowler 
for  Congress. 

The  controversy  was  amusing.  In  the  com- 
munications which  Fowler  published  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh Gazette  about  his  wrongs,  he  designated 
Gazzam  as  a  "little  man — in  the  most  emphatic 
sense."  He  declared  that  under  "the  cloak  of 
Republicanism  and  religion,"  Gazzam  was  "art- 
fully aiming  at  offices."44  The  allusion  to  Gaz- 
zam's  "religion"  referred  to  the  gentleman's  well 
known  activity  in  the  affairs  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  he  afterward  left,  owing,  it  was 
alleged,  to  the  fact  that  the  minister,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Steele,  gave  out  "two  lines  of  a  stanza 
to  be  sung,  instead  of  the  time-honored  one."45 
Fowler  enlarged  on  Gazzam 's  reputed  yearning 
for  office.  He  enumerated  the  offices  which 
Gazzam  had  held,  and  the  others  that  he  desired. 
He  claimed  that  Gazzam  was  an  applicant  for  the 
post  office  on  the  demise  of  George  Adams;  that 
he  hoped  to  be  county  commissioner;  that  he  was 
scheming  to  become  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly.46  To  this  abuse  Gazzam  replied  with 
equal  venom.  He  said  General  Fowler  had  been 


130  Pittsburgh 

drunk  on  the  last  occasion  that  he  had  asked  his 
support  for  Congress,  and  that  he  had  abused  him 
in  a  very  ungentlemanly  manner.47 

Thomas  Baird  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Ful- 
ton and  Baird,  and  was  a  candidate  for  burgess  in 
1803,  the  year  that  Colonel  Neville  was  elected.48 
Joseph  McClurg  was  a  candidate  for  supervisor  in 
1803,  but  was  defeated  by  A.  McNickle.49  Affili- 
ated with  these  men  were  Samuel  Ewalt,  Na- 
thaniel Irish,  and  Adamson  Tannehill,  the  last  two 
being  former  Revolutionary  officers.  Nathaniel 
Irish  was  county  commissioner,50  and  inspector 
of  flour  for  the  Western  country.51  Adamson 
Tannehill  had  formerly  conducted  a  tavern  on 
Water  Street,52  and  had  been  president  of  the 
Pittsburgh  Fire  Company.53  In  October,  1800, 
while  a  justice  of  the  peace,  he  was  tried 
and  convicted  of  extortion,  before  Justices  Jasper 
Yeates  and  Thomas  Smith  of  the  Supreme  Court 
while  on  circuit  in  Pittsburgh,  that  court  then 
having  original  jurisdiction  of  this  offense,  under 
the  constitution  of  1790.  Tannehill  received  a 
reprimand  and  was  fined  fifty  dollars.  The  con- 
viction was  thought  to  disqualify  him  from  further 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        131 

exercising  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace. 
Being  a  leading  Republican,  and  the  offense,  which 
consisted  in  charging  on  two  probates  two  shillings 
more  than  the  law  allowed,  having  been  com- 
mitted five  years  before,  Governor  McKean,  in 
January,  1801,  remitted  the'fine  and  reappointed 
Tannehill  to  the  office  which  he  had  formerly 
held.54  Dr.  Andrew  Richardson  belonged  to  the 
"Clapboard  Row,"  faction  until  his  desertion  of 
the  Republican  party.  Joseph  Davis,  who  had  a 
grocery  store  on  the  other  side  of  Market  Street 
from  "Clapboard  Row"  was  another  member  of 
the  clique,  as  was  Tarleton  Bates,  the  prothono- 
tary  of  the  county, ss  who  had  succeeded  John  C. 
Gilkison  in  office. 

"Clapboard  Row,"  was  not  allowed  to  win  its 
victories  unopposed.  The  opposition  was  both 
able  and  active.  Judge  Alexander  Addison,  Sena- 
tor James  Ross,  and  General  John  Woods  were 
the  leaders  of  the  Federalists.  Colonel  O'Hara, 
General  Neville,  Colonel  Neville,  Major  Craig, 
Major  Ebenezer  Denny,  Dr.  Stevenson,  and  most 
of  the  former  Revolutionary  officers  were  also 
Federalists.  Other  Federalists  were  William 


132  Pittsburgh 

Christy,  Dr.  Mowry,  Abner  Barker,  Jeremiah 
Barker,  and  Alexander  McLaughlin.  They  made 
a  gallant  fight  for  their  principles,  but  their  voice 
was  usually  drowned  in  the  mighty  chorus  of 
Republicanism  that  had  swept  the  country  from 
its  former  conservative  moorings.  In  borough 
politics  only  were  they  successful. 

The  views  of  the  rival  political  parties  were 
echoed  with  startling  frankness  in  the  columns  of 
the  Tree  of  Liberty  and  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette. 
On  October  II,  1800,  the  Tree  of  Liberty  announced 
the  election  of  the  Republican  candidate  for  in- 
spector of  elections  in  the  borough,  and  added 
jubilantly:  "The  people  are  no  longer  to  be  led 
up  like  tame  asses  to  vote  against  their  inclination 
for  the  characters  that  Ross,  Woods,  and  Addison 
recommend.  They  now  act  for  themselves." 
After  the  presidential  election  of  1800,  it  exulted 
further:  "Tt  is  laughable  to  hear  some  of  the  hot- 
blooded  Federalists  moaning  and  groaning  at  the 
result  of  the  last  election.  They  know  not  what 
cause  to  attribute  it  to.  They  curse  the  Tree 
and  all  its  leaves,  they  denounce  'Clapboard  Row* 
with  the  yards  and  its  size  sticks."56 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        133 

The  Pittsburgh  Gazette  was  equally  outspoken,  its 
ire  being  particularly  directed  against  Judge  Hugh 
Henry  Brackenridge.  In  an  article  signed  "A 
Citizen  of  Washington,"  it  gave  what  purported 
to  be  an  account  of  a  drunken  escapade  of  the 
Judge  through  Washington  and  Allegheny  Coun- 
ties, which,  if  published  to-day,  would  lead  to  a 
personal  encounter.57  On  another  occasion  Scull 
paid  his  compliments  to  Brackenridge  in  the  fol- 
lowing sarcastic  terms:  "You  who  get  two  or 
three  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  setting  up  a 
slanderous  press,  and  for  two  or  three  journeys 
through  the  State  to  sit  as  a  mute  on  the  bench, 
and  wear  the  new  cockade,  in  your  drunken  frolics 
through  the  country,  can  afford  to  buy  a  press  and 
hire  types,  and  pay  under-devils  to  set  types  and 
fetch  and  carry  tales.  I  cannot  afford  such  things. 
I  have  no  salary,  post,  or  pension."58 

A  week  later  Scull  attacked  Brackenridge  with 
even  more  virulence:  "Mr.  Brackenridge  cannot 
expect  to  live  long.  He  has  already  outlived  all 
hope  of  fame.  I  doubt  whether  he  feels  that  there 
is  a  God  above  him.  I  doubt  whether  he  does  not 
think  that  he  is  his  own  divinity  while  he  lives, 


134  Pittsburgh 

and  that  when  he  dies  his  dust  will  mingle  with 
that  of  the  beasts  that  perish.  He  has  labored 
with  industry  and  success  to  acquire  the  contempt 
and  abhorrence  of  all  whom  it  was  possible  for 
him  to  esteem."59 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  VI 

I  Tree  of  Liberty,  August  23,  1800. 
•     Tree  of  Liberty,  August  23,  1800. 

»  H.  H.  BRACKENRIDGE.  Incidents  of  the  Insurrection  in  the 
Western  Parts  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  1795,  vol. 

ii-i  PP-  73-74- 

<  H.  H.  BRACKENRIDGE.  Incidents  of  the  Insurrection  in  the 
Western  Parts  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  1795,  vol.  ii., 
p.  72. 

[s    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  16,  1793. 
[6    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  28,  1794. 

i    H.  H.  BRACKENRIDGE.    Incidents  of  the  Insurrection  in  the 
Western  Parts  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  1795,  vol.  ii. 
p.  61. 
8    DANIEL   AGNEW.     Address   Delivered   before   the   Allegheny 

County  Bar  Association,  December  i,  1888,  p.  14. 
»    Loomis's  Magazine  Almanac  for  1835,  Pittsburgh,  pp.  37-40. 
10    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  30,  1801. 

II  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  10,  1800. 
"    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  July  10,  1801. 

*«    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  25, 1801. 

14    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  22,  1801. 

*«    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  8, 1787. 

16  WILLIAM  H.  LOYD.  The  Early  Courts  of  Pennsylvania,  Bos- 
ton, 1910,  pp.  94-95,  124-125. 

J*  H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.  The  Literary  Examiner  and  Western 
Monthly  Review,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  1839,  pp.  27-29. 

18    JOHNWILKINS.     "The  Western  Insurrection."    In  Contribu- 
tions to  American  History,  Philadelphia,  1858,  pp.  183-184; 
H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.     History  of  the  Western  Insurrection 
in  Western  Pennsylvania,  Pittsburgh,  1859,  PP-  93~94- 
135 


136  Pittsburgh 

"»  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  5,  1800. 

20  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  16,  1800. 

31  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  22,  1801. 

"  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  30,  1798. 

23  Tree  of  Liberty,  June  18,  1803. 

*4  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  March  30,  1799. 

25  Tree  of  Liberty,  September  13,  1800. 

36  Tree  of  Liberty,  April  18,  1801. 

2  *  Tree  of  Liberty,  August  8,  1 80 1. 

28    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  1 1,  1799. 
3 9    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  5,  1800. 

30  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  I,  1799;  Tree  of  Liberty,  August  30, 

1800. 

31  Tree  of  Liberty,  February  28,  1801. 

32  Colonial  Records,  Harrisburg,  1853,  vol.  xv.,  p.  604. 

33  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  March  20,  1790. 

3*    Colonial  Records,  Harrisburg,  1853,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  537 

3  *    MAJOR  EBENEZER  DENNY.    Military  Journal,  Philadelphia, 

1859.  PP-  16-18. 

36  WILLIAM  H.  EGLE.  History  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia,  1883,  p.  454. 

3  7  WILLIAM  G.  JOHNSTON.  Life  and  Reminiscences,  Pittsburgh, 
MCMI,  p.  33. 

38  Tree  of  Liberty,  January  10,  1801. 

39  Tree  of  Liberty,  December  13,  1800. 

4°  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  19,  1800;  Tree  of  Liberty,  De- 
cember 2 7, 1800. 

**  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  14,  1801. 

«a  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  22,  1802. 

«  Tree  of  Liberty,  June  25,  1803. 

«4  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  4,  1801. 

45  Centennial  Volume  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1784-1884,  Pittsburgh,  1884,  P-  34- 

4*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  4,  1801. 

47  Tree  of  Liberty,  August  29,  1801. 

4*  Tree  of  Liberty,  May  21,  1803. 

4'  Tree  of  Liberty,  May  21,  1803. 

s°  Tree  of  Liberty,  October  18,  1800. 

s1  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  24,  1802. 

s*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  16,  1786. 

"  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  4,  1794. 


Public  and  Private  Affairs        137 

54  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  30,  1801;  Tree  of  Liberty,  Febru- 
ary 7,  1801. 

ss  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  24,  1802. 

s6  Tree  of  Liberty,  October  25,  1800. 

57  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  5,  1800. 

s*  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  February  6,  1801. 

**  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  February  13,  1801. 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  DUEL  AND  OTHER  MATTERS 

ON  July  24, 1805,  a  third  Richmond  appeared 
in  the  Pittsburgh  newspaper  field  in  the 
person  of  Ephraim  Pentland.    He  estab- 
lished a  weekly  newspaper  called  The  Common' 
wealth,  which  was  published  in  a  building  situated 
in  the  West  Diamond,   opposite  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  new  court  house.     The  newspaper 
resulted  from  the  dissension  in  the  Republican 
party  in  Pennsylvania. 

Governor  McKean's  second  term  was  drawing 
to  a  close.  For  two  years  prior  to  1805,  he  had 
disagreed  with  the  Republican  General  Assem- 
bly because  of  its  extreme  radicalism.  It  had 
enacted  several  revolutionary  bills  which  he 
vetoed.  The  members  appeared  to  have  an 
especial  aversion  to  lawyers,  and  a  bill  was  passed 

138 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters       139 

tcTsubstitute,  in  civil  cases,  referees  for  juries,  and 
prohibiting  the  employment  of  counsel.  This 
bill  was  also  vetoed.  The  House  assumed  that 
the  Supreme  Court  was  arrogating  to  itself 
powers  which  it  did  not  possess,  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1803,  scarcely  a  month  after  the  im- 
peachment and  removal  from  the  bench  of  Judge 
Addison, *  the  first  step  was  taken  in  the  attempt 
to  impeach  three  of  the  judges  of]  the  Supreme 
Court  for  alleged  arbitrary  conduct  in  com- 
mitting to  prison  for  contempt,  the  plaintiff  in 
a  suit  pending  in  the  court.2  Brackenridge  was 
absent  from  the  bench  when  the  offender  was 
imprisoned,  and  although  accused  of  being  largely 
responsible  for  the  impeachment  of  Judge  Ad- 
dison, was  now  loyal  to  his  colleagues,  and  sent 
a  letter  to  the  House  in  which  he  declared  his  full 
concurrence  in  the  course  taken  by  the  other 
judges,  and  asked  to  share  their  fate.  The  House 
replied  by  addressing  the  governor,  and  asking 
for  Brackenridge's  removal.  McKean  refused  to 
comply  with  the  request.  On  January  28,  1805, 
the  impeachment  trial  came  to  an  end;  a  ma- 
jority of  the  Senators  pronounced  the  judges 


140  Pittsburgh 

guilty,  but  as  the  majority  was  short  of  two-thirds, 
the  result  was  an  acquittal.  The  anger  of  the 
radical  Republicans  was  boundless.  A  division 
took  place  in  the  party,  which  caused  intense 
feeling  throughout  the  State.  McKean's  support- 
ers took  the  name  of  "Constitutionalists,"  while 
the  opposition  called  themselves  "Friends  of  the 
People."  The  charm  of  French  phrases  was  still 
strong. 

The  "Friends  of  the  People"  now  put  forward 
Simon  Snyder  as  a  candidate  for  governor  in 
opposition  to  McKean.  The  abuse  that  was 
heaped  on  their  former  idol  was  appalling ;  threats 
of  _  civil  war  were  in  the  air.  McKean  was 
charged  with  being  a  demagogue  who  pandered 
to  the  worst  elements  in  the  Republican  party, 
while  being  by  education  and  sentiment  an  aristo- 
crat. He  was  also  accused  of  having  gone  over 
to  the  Federalists.  The  Tree  of  Liberty  continued 
a  staunch  supporter  of  McKean.  Its  former 
violence  had  given  way  to  an  advocacy  of 
"moderation." 

The  Commonwealth  was  established  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  faction  opposed  to  McKean,  and  its 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters       141 

attacks  on  him  and  his  supporter,  the  Tree  of 
Liberty,  were  brutal.  Israel  came  in  for  the  most 
violent  abuse.  Pentland  accused  Israel  of  being 
ignorant.  "Let  a  beardless  boy  instruct  you, 
old  goat!"  was  one  of  his  coarse  thrusts.  In  the 
same  article  he  designated  Israel  as  "the  man  with 
the  long  beard,  but  no  brains,"  and  concluded 
crudely,  "Let  a  goslin'  instruct  you,  old  goose!"3 
The  campaign  teemed  with  personalities.  The 
Federalists  looked  on  in  amusement,  but  finally 
came  to  the  support  of  McKean,  and  he  was 
elected.  Pentland's  chagrin  knew  no  bounds,  and 
after  the  election  was  over,  he  continued  to  attack 
the  Tree  of  Liberty,  the  management  of  which,  by 
this  time  had  changed.  He  vented  his  spite  on 
the  supposed  owners.  He  charged  that,  although 
the  newspaper  was  published  in  the  name  of  Walter 
Forward,  Tarleton  Bates  and  Henry  Baldwin,4  the 
two  most  prominent  politicians  in  Pittsburgh, 
were  the  real  proprietors,  and  that  Bates  was  the 
editor.  Baldwin,  who  was  not  quite  twenty-six 
years  of  age,  later  in  life  became  a  member  of 
Congress  and  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  Forward  was  a  young  man  of  nine- 


142  Pittsburgh 

teen,  a  law  student  in  Baldwin's  office,  and  sub- 
sequently attained  high  political  distinction.  He 
was  several  times  a  member  of  Congress,  was 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  President  Tyler, 
char 'ge-d" '-affaires  to  Denmark,  under  President 
Taylor,  and  president  judge  of  the  District  Court 
of  Allegheny  County. 

:  Bates  was  the  oldest  and  best  known  of  the  three 
men.  His  tragic  end  has  caused  a  halo  of  romance 
to  be  cast  about  his  striking  personality.  He  was  a 
native  of  Virginia,  where  he  was  born  on  May  22, 
1775.  He  was  of  Quaker  origin,  his  father  having 
lost  his  membership  in  the  Society  of  Friends 
because  of  his  services  as  a  volunteer  at  the  siege 
of  Yorktown.  The  family  seat  was  Belmont  in 
Goochland  County.  Tarleton  Bates  came  to 
Pittsburgh  when  eighteen  years  of  age.  During 
the  early  years  of  his  residence  he  was  employed 
by  the  national  government  in  the  Quarter  Mas- 
ter's Department  under  Major  Isaac  Craig,  the 
Deputy  Quarter  Master  and  Military  Store- 
keeper at  Pittsburgh,  with  whom  for  a  time  he 
made  his  home.  When  the  Spaniards  surrendered 
their  rights  to  the  country  on  the  lower  Missis- 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters       143 

sippi  in  1798,  and  the  Mississippi  Territory  was 
organized  with  Natchez  as  the  capital,  Bates 
determined  to  leave  Pittsburgh  and  settle  in  the 
southern  town,  but  did  not  carry  his  design  into 
execution.5  Upon  the  appointment  of  John  C. 
Gilkison  to  the  office  of  prothonotary,  he  became 
a  clerk  under  him. 

He  had  a  fair  education,  was  studiously  inclined, 
and  was  possessed  of  considerable  culture,  including 
a  knowledge  of  the  French  language.  He  owned  the 
best  copy  of  Lavater  in  Pittsburgh.  His  letters 
to  members  of  his  family6  indicate  that  he  was 
generous,  warm-hearted,  and  tender.  The  family 
fortunes  were  low.  His  brother  Frederick,  just 
starting  out  in  life,  felt  the  need  of  money  and  made 
his  wants  known  to  Tarleton.  Although  in  the 
habit  of  speaking  of  himself  as  living  in  "exiled 
poverty,"  he  responded  without  hesitation: 
"Nothing  within  my  ability  shall  be  wanting  to 
smooth  the  entrance  of  the  rugged  path  of  life"; 
and  he  offered  to  help  Frederick  to  the  extent  of 
thirty  dollars  a  month.  He  led  an  upright  life  and 
ever  attempted  to  deserve  the  good  opinion  of  his 
^mother  and  "avoid  the  imprudencies  of  youth.'* 


144  Pittsburgh 

Frederick  charged  him  with  being  engaged  to  be 
married.  His  answer  was  an  admission  that  he 
was  in  love,  and  a  frank  intimation  that  thus  far 
success  had  not  crowned  his  efforts.  That  he 
was  fond  of  the  society  of  ladies  appears  from  a 
letter  in  which  he  tells  of  the  many  charming 
ladies  in  Pittsburgh.  His  acrostic  on  the  name  of 
Emily  Morgan  Neville,  the  daughter  of  Colonel 
Presley  Neville,  lends  color  to  the  imputation  that 
at  one  time  he  was  in  love  with  that  fascinating 
young  woman.  His  complete  obsession  with  poli- 
tics was  probably  responsible  for  his  remaining 
unmarried. 

He  was  warmly  attached  to  his  party.  In  a 
letter  written  while  the  Republican  party — which 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  calling  the  Democratic  party 
— was  still  in  its  infancy  in  Pittsburgh,  he  said: 
11 1  believe  I  am  almost  the  only  Pittsburgher  who 
is  not  ashamed  to  call  himself  a  Democrat,  and  I 
am  sure  the  appellation  will  never  discredit  me. " 
He  related  humorously  that  on  one  occasion  he 
attended  a  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  and  among 
the  speakers  was  Colonel  Presley  Neville,  who, 
"abhors  the  Democrats  as  so  many  imps  of  hell." 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters        145 

He  was  proud  and  told  his  family  that  he  acknowl- 
edged no  superior,  and  "admitted  no  knave, 
however  bloated  with  wealth,  to  be  an  equal." 
He  was  one  of  several  famous  brothers.  His 
younger  brothers,  Frederick,  James,  and  Edward, 
after  his  death,  emigrated  to  the  Missouri  Terri- 
tory where  Frederick  was  the  first  secretary 
of  the  Territory,  and  the  second  governor  of 
the  State.  James  afterward  settled  in  Arkansas 
and  became  a  delegate  to  Congress  from  that 
Territory.  Edward  became  the  friend  of  Henry 
Clay  and  in  1860  was  a  candidate  for  President 
before  the  convention  which  nominated  Abraham 
Lincoln;  he  became  Attorney-General  in  Lincoln's 
Cabinet. 

On  Christmas  Day,  1805,  the  article  appeared 
in  The  Commonwealth,  which  was  the  direct  cause 
of  the  death  of  Tarleton  Bates  in  a  duel.  In  the 
course  of  the  incendiary  diatribe,  Pentland  de- 
clared that  Bates  and  Baldwin  were  "two  of 
the  most  abandoned  political  miscreants  that  ever 
disgraced  a  State."  He  demanded  savagely: 
"To  what  party  do  they  belong?  "  and  answered  the 
question  himself.  "To  no  party,  to  all  parties. 


146  Pittsburgh 

They  have  been  Whigs  and  Tories,  High  or  Low 
Republicans,  Democrats  or  Anti-Democrats,  Ja- 
cobins or  Anti- Jacobins,  Constitutionalists  or 
Republicans,  according  to  existing  circumstances. " 

Pentland's  punishment  was  to  be  publicly 
cowhided  by  Bates  on  Market  Street  on  January 
2,  1806.  He  is  said  to  have  fled  precipitately 
when  attacked.  Pentland  gave  a  darkly  colored 
account  of  the  occurrence:  "On  Thursday  even- 
ing last,  a  considerable  time  after  dark,  the  editor 
of  this  paper  was  waylaid,  and  attacked  in  a  most 
outrageous  manner,  by  Tarleton  Bates,  the  pro- 
thonotary  of  this  county,  and  co-proprietor  and 
editor  of  the  Tree  of  Liberty.  Bates  was  in  com- 
pany with  some  persons  who  were  no  doubt  to  act 
as  aids,  should  their  assistance  be  wanted,  but 
owing  to  the  mistiness  of  the  evening,  and  their 
quick  disappearance,  all  of  them  could  not  be 
recognized.  Baldwin,  Bates's  colleague  in  infamy, 
and  the  brave  and  redoubtable  Steele  Semple,  who 
never  feels  afraid  but  when  he  is  in  danger,  were 
in  the  gang, — both  limbs  of  the  law,  students  of 
morality!"7 

Dueling  had  been  forbidden  in  Pennsylvania 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters        147 

since  1794,  under  penalty  of  fine  and  imprison- 
ment, and  loss  of  citizenship  for  seven  years.8 
An  unconverted  public  sentiment,  however,  still 
approved  of  the  code  of  honor,  and  Pentland,  who 
had  at  first  threatened  legal  proceedings  against 
Bates,  challenged  him  instead.  The  challenge 
was  carried  by  Thomas  Stewart,  a  young  Irishman 
who  was  a  merchant  in  the  town.  Bates  declined 
to  accept,  on  the  ground  that  Pentland's  conduct 
since  his  chastisement,  had  rendered  him  unworthy 
of  such  notice.  Pentland  then  posted  Bates  as  a 
coward,  upon  which  on  January  7,  1806,  Bates 
published  a  letter  in  the  Tree  of  Liberty  giving  his 
reason  for  refusing  the  challenge,  in  which  he 
reflected  on  Stewart.  Stewart  demanded  a  re- 
traction, which  was  refused,  whereupon  he  chal- 
lenged Bates.  This  challenge  was  accepted. 

Bates  immediately  wrote  his  will.  It  was  ex- 
pressive of  deep  feeling.  There  was  every  indica- 
tion of  a  premonition  of  his  forthcoming  end.  He 
had  always  led  a  simple  life,  and  in  death  he  desired 
to  avoid  display.  In  that  moment  he  recalled  the 
discussions  in  the  French  Legislative  Councils  dur- 
ing the  Directory,  on  the  disposal  of  the  dead  by 


148  Pittsburgh 

burning.  "Henry  Baldwin,  my  very  dear  friend, 
my  sole  executor,  ...  is  to  burn  my  body,  or  at 
least  bury  it  without  any  direction,"  he  wrote; 
then  he  provided  for  the  education  of  his  brother 
James,  which  was  to  be  completed  by  his  studying 
law.  In  case  the  estate  proved  insufficient  for 
the  purpose,  his  brother  Frederick  was  to  provide 
the  deficiency.  Any  residue,  he  declared,  "is  to 
go  to  my  adored  mother." 

The  encounter  took  place  the  next  day  in  a 
ravine  in  Oakland,  in  what  is  at  present  the  Fourth 
Ward  of  the  city  of  Pittsburgh.  The  ravine 
through  which  a  rivulet  coursed,  called  "Three- 
Mile  Run, "  long  since  sewered  over,  opened  on  the 
Monongahela  River,  at  a  point  now  occupied  by 
the  lower  end  of  the  Jones  &  Laughlin  Steel 
Company's  ore-yard,  and  by  the  office  of  the  Eliza 
Furnace.  To-day  there  are  laid  out  through  the 
ravine  several  unpaved  hillside  streets  with  nar- 
row board  sidewalks,  one  of  which  is  the  lower 
portion  of  Halket  Street.  On  the  upper  edge  of 
the  easterly  border  of  the  ravine  is  Bates  Street, 
named  for  Tarleton  Bates.  The  duel  was  fought 
near  the  Monongahela  River;  the  distance  was 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters        149 

ten  paces;  the  weapons  were  pistols.  Both 
principals  displayed  undaunted  courage.  Bates 
fell  at  the  second  fire,  shot  in  the  breast,  and 
expired  in  an  hour.9  On  the  day  that  Bates  lay 
dead  in  the  ravine  which  ever  since  has  been 
haunted  with  his  memory,  Pentland  made  another 
slanderous  charge  in  his  newspaper:  "I  shall  not 
engross  the  columns  of  this  paper  with  remarks  on 
the  private  character  of  Mr.  Bates,  because  that 
already  appears  to  the  public  in  colors  as  dark  as 
the  skin  of  his  mistress."10 

The  community  was  shocked  at  the  tragedy. 
Notwithstanding  the  directions  of  Bates's  will  in 
regard  to  the  disposal  of  his  body,  he  was  buried 
in  Trinity  Churchyard.  A  great  concourse  of 
people  attended  the  funeral,  the  chief  mourner 
being  Henry  Baldwin;  but  the  whole  town  de- 
plored his  death.  In  its  next  issue,  the  Tree  of 
Liberty  added  to  the  general  gloom,  by  appearing 
in  mourning  dress.  Two  weeks  later  the  post 
brought  news  of  the  dire  calamity  to  the  widowed 
mother  in  her  Virginia  home,  and  to  her  children. 
Amid  their  tears  they  rejoiced  that  the  Virginia 
traditions  of  honor  had  not  been  violated  and  that 


150  Pittsburgh 

Tarleton  Bates  had  accepted  the  challenge  and  pre- 
ferred "death  to  a  life  of  infamy  and  disgrace."11 
The  depth  of  their  attachment  appeared  in  the 
fact  that  the  family  preserved  his  letters  as  precious 
mementoes  as  long  as  they  survived.  For  a  time 
the  grave  was  a  hallowed  spot  to  be  pointed  out  to 
visitors,  but  as  Bates's  old  friends  died,  and  a  new 
generation  came  on,  it  was  neglected,  and  now  the 
location  is  forgotten.  Bates's  brothers  received 
their  inspiration  from  him.  He  was  the  ablest 
member  of  the  family.  Had  it  not  been  for 
his  untimely  death,  the  name  of  Tarleton  Bates 
might  have  become  one  of  the  great  names  in 
Pennsylvania  history,  if  not  in  that  of  the  United 
States. 

At  the  northwest  corner  of  Market  and  Third 
streets,  in  the  house  built  by  Major  Ebenezer 
Denny,  of  brick  taken  from  Fort  Pitt,12  was  the 
store  of  Denny  &  Beelen.  The  firm  was  composed 
of  Major  Denny  and  Anthony  Beelen.  They  sold, 
"dry  goods,  hardware,  groceries,  stationery,  per- 
fumery, china,  glass,  and  queensware."13  Major 
Denny,  the  senior  partner,  was  a  slender,  blue- 
eyed,  and  red-haired  man  of  thirty-nine.  His 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters        151 

was  a  most  adventurous  career.  In  the  Revo- 
lution he  was  ensign  in  the  1st  Pennsylvania 
Regiment,  and  lieutenant  in  the  3d  and  4th 
Pennsylvania  Regiments.  He  had  served  as 
lieutenant  under  General  George  Rodgers  Clark 
in  Illinois,  was  adjutant  to  General  Josiah 
Harmar  in  the  campaign  against  the  Indians  in 
1790,  and  aid-de-camp  of  General  Arthur  St.  Clair 
in  1791.  He  was  the  messenger  who  carried  the 
news  of  the  rout  of  St.  Clair's  army  to  President 
Washington  at  Philadelphia,  then  the  seat  of  the 
national  government.  On  returning  to  private 
life  he  had  gone  into  business  with  Captain 
Joseph  Ashton,  a  former  Revolutionary  officer 
like  himself,  at  the  place  later  conducted  by 
Denny  &  Beelen.  This  partnership  was  dis- 
solved in  1794  when  Denny  was  again  appointed 
to  a  military  command  and  placed  in  charge  of  an 
expedition  sent  to  Fort  Le  Boeuf.  In  Pittsburgh 
he  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  public  affairs.14 
He  was  a  candidate  for  representative  to  the  Penn- 
sylvania House  of  Representatives  against  Lucus, 
but  was  defeated.  Later  he  was  elected  county 
commissioner.  In  1803  he  was  treasurer  of  the 


152  Pittsburgh 

county,  being  the  first  man  to  hold  that  office, 
and  was  the  first  mayor  of  Pittsburgh  upon  its 
becoming  a  city  in  1816. 

Anthony  Beelen,  Major  Denny's  partner,  was  a 
native  of  the  Austrian  Netherlands,  now  Belgium, 
and  was  the  son  of  Francis,  Baron  de  Belen 
Bartholf,  Minister  of  the  King  of  Austria,  Joseph 
II.,  to  the  United  States,  who,  upon  the  death  of 
the  King  in  1790,  continued  a  resident  of  the  United 
States.  The  Baron  seems  to  have  soon  discarded 
his  title  of  nobility,  as  he  was  engaged  in  business 
in  Pittsburgh  at  an  early  date,  going  by  the  name 
of  Francis  Beelen,  being  a  partner  in  the  firm  of 
Amberson,  Beelen,  &  Anshutz  which  was  dis- 
solved in  I794.rs  Anthony  Beelen  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Denny  in  Philadelphia,  and  became 
associated  with  him,  and  in  1794  settled  the  affairs 
of  Ashton  &  Denny.16  In  1803  he  was  one  of 
the  Pittsburgh  assessors. 1 7  In  later  years  he  con- 
ducted an  air  furnace  and  other  enterprises.  Beelen 
afterward  lost  his  property,  but  the  family  for- 
tunes rose  again  when  Mrs.  Mary  Murphy  died. 
In  her  will  she  left  all  her  valuable  estate,  the 
principal  part  of  which  consisted  of  the  block  on 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters        153 

Market  Street  in  which  "Clapboard  Row"  was 
located,  to  Beelen  in  trust  for  his  daughter  and 
granddaughter. 

On  Third  Street  a  short  distance  west  of  Market 
Street,  Andrew  Willock,  Jr.,  conducted  a  baking 
business,  at  the  "Sign  of  the  Sheaf  of  Wheat." 
He  also  kept  a  tavern,18  taverns  and  bakeries  being 
frequently  carried  on  together.  Alexander  Mc- 
Laughlin,  an  oldtime  merchant,  was  located  at  the 
southwesterly  corner  of  Market  and  Fourth  streets 
in  the  same  block  with  Denny  &  Beelen.  He 
had  formerly  been  on  Second  Street.19  In  1800 
he  was  a  candidate  for  county  commissioner,  but 
was  defeated  by  Nathaniel  Irish.20  James  Wills, 
who  dealt  in  "boot  and  bootee  legs,"  adjoined 
McLaughlin  on  the  south.21  Next  to  Wills's 
house  was  that  occupied  by  John  Wrenshall. 
Wren  shall  was  a  man  of  culture  and,  in  addition 
to  keeping  store  and  preaching  the  Gospel  when 
the  opportunity  was  presented,  was  a  writer  of 
ability.  His  Farewell  to  Pittsburgh  and  the  Moun- 
tains, published  in  Philadelphia  in  1818,  was  a 
poem  of  some  merit,  and  of  considerable  local  in- 
terest. He  was  the  grandfather  of  Julia  Dent, 


154  Pittsburgh 

the  wife  of  General  U.  S.  Grant,  eighteenth  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  Joseph  Davis  was 
located  between  Wrenshall  and  Denny  &  Beelen. 
He  was  assessor  in  1802." 

John  Irwin,  one  of  William  Christy's  old  part- 
ners, had  his  store  at  the  northeast  corner  of 
Market  and  Fourth  streets.  He  was  a  former 
Revolutionary  officer,  having  been  captain  in  the 
2nd  Pennsylvania  Regiment.  At  the  next  cor- 
ner, where  Market  Street  intersected  the  South 
Diamond,  in  the  large  three-story  brick  building 
were  the  tavern  and  store  of  William  Irwin,  the 
other  partner  of  Christy.  This  building  was 
another  of  the  houses  built  of  brick  taken  from 
Fort  Pitt.23  To  this  house  William  Irwin  had  re- 
moved in  I79924;  and  here  he  furnished  public  en- 
tertainment, and  sold,  in  addition  to  whisky,  and 
other  diverting  drinks,  "kettles,  stoves,  and  dry 
goods."23  Dancing  classes  were  also  held  in  the 
building,  those  for  ladies  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  and  the  classes  for  gentlemen  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening.26  More  serious  business 
was  conducted  there.  In  the  large  hall  in  the 
third  story  the  courts  were  held  for  more  than  a 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters        155 

year  after  being  removed  from  Andrew  Watson's 
house.27  This  was  likewise  the  room  in  which 
Lodge  No.  45  now  held  its  sessions.28 

North  of  the  South  Diamond  the  buildings  were 
farther  apart.  At  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
East  Diamond  and  Diamond  Alley  was  the  log 
store  of  William  Woods  &  Company.29  On  the 
opposite  side  of  Market  Street  from  John  Irwin 
and  William  Irwin's  stores,  in  the  middle  of  the 
block,  was  John  Hamsher's  retail  shop,  where  he 
sold  copper  and  tin-plate  articles,  and  clover 
seed.30  Next  door  was  the  store  of  James  Dunlap 
&  Company.31  In  the  Diamond,  east  of  Market 
Street,  was  the  semicircular  market  house,  which 
covered  most  of  this  part  of  the  Diamond.  Its 
wide,  projecting  roof  was  supported  by  a  double 
row  of  brick  pillars.  In  the  interior  of  the  build- 
ing were  rows  of  stalls,  with  benches  and  blocks, 
for  the  butchers.  Encircling  the  structure  was  a 
brick  pavement  along  the  curb  of  which  the  farmers 
and  market  gardeners  were  stationed.32  In  the 
Market  House  the  borough  elections  were  held.33 

Across  Market  Street  from  the  Market  House 
was  the  new  court  house.  It  was  the  pride  of  the 


156  Pittsburgh 

western  country,  and  the  only  high  building  in 
the  town.  It  was  a  square,  two-story  brick  struc- 
ture with  one-story  wings,  for  the  county  offices,  and 
was  surmounted  by  a  tall  wooden  spire.  In  1800, 
the  main  building  was  barely  completed,  some  of 
the  upper  rooms  being  yet  unplastered,  although 
the  county  offices  had  been  removed  to  the  wings 
two  years  before.34  The  belfry  lacked  the  bell; 
and  the  space  before  the  building  was  only  then 
being  paved.  The  main  entrance  was  on 
Market  Street,  and  on  either  side  of  the  doorway 
were  fluted  wooden  columns  with  Corinthian 
capitals.  The  court  room  was  on  the  first  floor 
and  was  paved  with  bricks  which,  like  the  brick 
used  in  the  pavement  outside,  were  large  and 
almost  square.  Supporting  the  ceiling  were  Doric 
pillars  resting  upon  square  panelled  pedestals.35 
The  judges'  bench  and  the  jury  box  were  in  the 
rear  of  the  court  room.  They  faced  the  entrance, 
and  the  judges'  bench  admitted  seating  the  presi- 
dent judge  and  the  four  lay  associate  judges,  at 
one  time.  It  was  elevated  above  the  floor  and 
was  reached  by  stairs  placed  at  the  northerly  end. 
The  jury  box  was  southerly  of  the  judges'  bench, 


A  Duel  and  Other  Matters        157 

with  a  narrow  passage  between  it  and  the  judges' 
bench.  After  the  bell  was  placed  in  the  belfry  in 
1 80 1,  Joseph  Harris  became  bell-ringer,  and  rang 
the  bell  whenever  court  was  about  to  convene. 

Back  of  the  court  house,  one  hundred  and  forty 
feet  west  of  the  West  Diamond,  and  running  par- 
allel with  it,  was  an  alley,  now  called  Delray 
Street.  On  the  westerly  side  of  this  alley,  a  short 
distance  south  of  Diamond  Alley,  was  the  new 
square  two-story  stone  county  jail.  It  was  erected 
on  a  lot  purchased  by  Allegheny  County  in  1793, 
and  was  completed  at  the  same  time  as  the 
court  house.  The  building  was  surrounded  by 
a  stone  wall,  the  entire  lot  being  enclosed  by  a 
high  board  fence. 

Immediately  in  the  rear  of  the  court  house,  at 
the  southwest  corner  of  the  West  Diamond  and 
Diamond  Alley,  was  the  tavern  of  John  Reed  at 
the  "Sign  of  the  Waggon."  Here  the  Allegheny 
County  courts  held  a  few  sessions,  during  the 
interval  between  the  time  of  leaving  William 
Irwin's  house,  and  the  completion  of  the  court 
house.36  At  the  northeast  corner  of  Market  Street 
and  the  North  Diamond,  was  the  tavern  of  Thomas 


158  Pittsburgh 

Ferree  at  the  "  Sign  of  the  Black  Bear. "  Directly 
across  Market  Street  in  the  new  brick  building, 
was  the  boot  and  shoemaking  establishment  of 
John  and  Alexander  Wills.37  On  the  same  side  of 
the  street,  the  second  door  south  of  Fifth  Street, 
was  James  Yeaman's  brick  building,  in  which  he 
conducted  his  bakery  and  brewery.38 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  VII 

1  THOMAS  LLOYD.  The  Trial  of  Alexander  Addison,  Esq.,  Lan- 
caster, 1803,  pp.  1-168. 

»  WILLIAM  HAMILTON.  Report  of  the  Trial  and  Acquittal  of 
Edward  Shippen,  Chief  Justice,  and  Jasper  Yeates  and 
Thomas  Smith,  Assistant  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania,  on  an  Impeachment  before  the  Senate  of  the 
Commonwealth,  January,  1805,  Lancaster,  pp.  1-587. 

*  The  Commonwealth,  August  28,  1805. 

*  The  Commonwealth,  December  25,  1805. 

*  ONWARD  BATES.    Bates  et  al,  of    Virginia  and    Missouri, 

Chicago,  1914,  p.  45. 

6  ONWARD  BATES.  Bates  et  al.  of  Virginia  and  Missouri, 
Chicago,  1914,  pp.  43-52. 

*  The  Commonwealth,  January  8,  1806. 

8    COLLINSON  READ.    Abridgement  of  the  Laws  of  Pennsylvania, 

Philadelphia,  MDCCCI,  p.  383. 
'     The  Commonwealth,  January  15,  1806. 

10  The  Commonwealth,  January  8,  1806. 

11  ONWARD  BATES.    Bates  et  al.  of    Virginia  and  Missouri, 

Chicago,  1914,  p.  57. 
xa    WILLIAM  G.  JOHNSTON.    Life  and  Reminiscences,  Pittsburgh, 

MCMI,  p.  36. 

*3    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  22,  1798. 
x«    MAJOR  EBENEZER  DENNY.    Military  Journal,  Philadelphia, 

1859,  PP-  21-30;  ibid.,  pp.  29-30. 
x*    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  2,  1794. 
16    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  14,  1794. 
*»    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  20,  1803. 
Tree  of  Liberty,  May  15,  1802. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  September  6,  1794. 
159 


160  Pittsburgh 

20  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  24,  1800;  Tree^of  Liberty,  October 

1 8,  1800. 

21  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  March  30,  1799. 

31  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  21,  1802. 

2  *  ISAAC  HARRIS.  General  Business  Directory  of  the  Cities  of 
Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny,  Pittsburgh,  1841,  p.  6. 

2  <    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  6,  1799. 

2s    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  July  I,  1799. 

26    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  21,  1802. 

2  *  H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.  "Pittsburgh  in  the  Olden  Time," 
The  Literary  Examiner  and  Western  Monthly  Review,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1839,  pp.  27-29. 

28  Centennial  Volume  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1784-1884,  Pittsburgh,  1884,  p.  152. 

2»    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  10, 1800;  ibid.,  December  16, 1802. 

3°    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  16,  1800. 

3'    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  17,  1800. 

32  WILLIAM  G.  JOHNSTON.    Life  and  Reminiscences,  Pittsburgh, 

MCMI,  p.  68. 

33  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  May  15,  1801. 

3*    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  13,  1798. 

3«  H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE.  "Pittsburgh  in  The  Olden  Time," 
The  Literary  Examiner  and  Western  Monthly  Review,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  1839,  PP-  27-29;  WILLIAM  G.  JOHNSTON.  Life 
and  Reminiscences,  Pittsburgh,  MCMI,  pp.  67-68. 

3«    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  February  I,  1800. 

37    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  November  14,  1800;  ibid.,  July  2,  1802. 

J*    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  August  28,  1801 ;  ibid.,  August  5,  1803. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ZADOK   CRAMER 

INTO  this  environment  Zadok  Cramer  had  come 
in  the  early  spring  of  1800.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  twenty-six,  and  was  lured  by  the 
promise  of  fortune  and  perhaps  fame.  In  the 
short  span  of  years  that  he  lived  and  flourished 
in  Pittsburgh,  he  did  more  to  advance  the  literary 
culture  of  his  adopted  town,  than  perhaps  all  the 
other  educational  agencies  combined,  which  came 
before  or  after  his  time.  It  is  customary  to  glorify 
statesmen  and  soldiers;  monuments  are  erected  to 
their  memory,  eulogies  are  pronounced  in  their 
praise,  and  memoirs  are  written  setting  forth  the 
deeds  they  have  done.  But  one  scarcely  ever 
thinks  of  the  men  who  made  possible  the  states- 
men and  soldiers :  the  teachers,  the  men  who  con- 
duct the  newspapers,  the  writers  of  books,  and 
above  all,  the  men  who  publish  and  sell  books. 

ii  161 


1 62  Pittsburgh 

The  publishers  and  sellers  of  books  not  only 
supply  the  wants  of  the  reading  public,  but  they 
lead  it  into  new  channels.  They  place  temptingly 
before  it  the  latest  and  best  productions  in  every 
branch  of  human  activity  of  the  brightest  minds 
in  the  world. 

Cramer  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  in  1773,  but 
spent  most  of  his  life  since  boyhood  in  Washing- 
ton, Pennsylvania,  where  he  learned  the  humble 
trade  of  bookbinding.  He  was  of  Quaker  origin, 
but  had  fallen  away  from  the  tenets  of  that 
faith,  although  he  still  affected  the  drab  coat  and 
straight  high-crowned,  wide-brimmed  hat  of  the 
sect.1  He  possessed  withal  the  worldly  shrewd- 
ness that  is  often  an  accompaniment  of  Quaker 
devoutness. 

On  March  30,  1800,  he  advertised  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh Gazette  that  he  was  about  to  open  a  book- 
bindery.  His  announcement  was  couched  in 
somewhat  stilted  language.  ' '  Under  a  conviction 
that  an  establishment  of  the  above  business  will 
meet  the  approbation  and  encouragement  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Pittsburgh  and  its  vicinity,  the 
undersigned  is  determined  to  prosecute  it  as  soon 


Zadok  Cramer  163 

as  he  can  make  the  necessary  arrangements.  His 
hopes  of  the  success  of  this  undertaking  are  flat- 
tering; he  hopes  likewise,  that  the  public  [on 
whom  he  is  depending  for  encouragement  will  not 
be  disappointed  in  placing  in  him  that  confidence 
merited  only  by  industry  and  attention  to  their 
favors." 

Cramer's  ambition  extended  beyond  the  limits 
of  his  bookbindery.  John  C.  Gilkison  died  on 
March  21,  1800,  after  having  held  the  office  of 
prothonotary  less  than  two  months.  The  little 
bookstore  which  he  had  established  was  for  sale. 
Judge  Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge  seems  to  have 
advanced  the  money  invested  by  Gilkison  in  the 
business,  and  it  devolved  on  him  to  settle  Gilkison 's 
affairs.  This  was  Cramer's  opportunity,  and  he 
purchased  Gilkison's  business,  obtaining  favorable 
terms  from  Brackenridge.  In  June  he  took  pos- 
session. All  his  life  he  believed  in  the  efficacy  of 
advertising,  and  his  entry  upon  this  larger  field  was 
heralded  by  a  long  public  notice.2  It  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  people  of  the  "Western  Country." 
He  declared  that  he  did  not  mean  to  be  limited 
to  the  confines  of  the  borough,  and  intended  to 


164  Pittsburgh 

carry  on  his  business  extensively.  He  empha- 
sized his  ability  to  make  blankbooks  and  do  book- 
binding "nearly  if  not  quite  as  cheap"  as  could 
be  done  east  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  He 
enlarged  on  the  bookstore  which  he  had  just 
opened,  and  claimed  to  have  a  selection  of  nearly 
eight  hundred  volumes. 

His  choice  of  location  was  fortunate.  The 
business  center  was  changing.  Merchants  whose 
establishments  had  been  on  Water  Street,  on 
Front  Street,  and  on  Second  Street,  were  con- 
gregating on  Market  Street.  Gilkison's  store 
was  on  the  east  side  of  this  street.  Here  Cramer 
established  himself,  and  after  the  Tree  of  Liberty 
was  founded,  advertised  as  being  located  "be- 
tween the  two  printing  offices.  "3  To  indicate  his 
place  of  business  he  hung  out  the  "Sign  of  the 
Franklin  Head";  Benjamin  Franklin  was  the 
patron  saint  of  everyone  who  had  any  connection, 
however  remote,  with  printing.  Cramer  desig- 
nated himself,  "Bookbinder  and  Publisher,"  and 
the  word  "publisher"  did  not  long  remain  a 
misnomer.  It  was  the  day  of  small  publishers. 
Even  in  the  larger  cities  in  the  East,  books  ema- 


Zadok  Cramer  165 

i 

nated  from  the  printing  presses  of  men  whose  es- 
tablishments were  of  minor  importance.  Large 
publishing  houses  are  creatures  of  the  complex 
civilization  of  a  much  later  period.  Probably 
from  the  beginning  Cramer  contemplated  under- 
taking the  publication  of  books  and  pamphlets 
as  soon  as  his  means  permitted,  although  it  was 
some  months  before  he  actually  began  publishing. 
But  he  was  already  making  preparations  to  that 
end,  and  on  October  17,  1800,  he  announced  that 
in  a  few  weeks  almanacs  for  the  year  1801  might 
be  had  at  Philadelphia  prices. 4 

At  the  national  election  of  1800,  the  Republicans 
were  successful  for  the  first  time,  John  Adams,  the 
Federal  candidate,  receiving  less  electoral  votes 
than  either  Thomas  Jefferson  of  Virginia  or  Aaron 
Burr  of  New  York,  the  two  Republican  candidates. 
The  returns  of  the  electoral  vote  as  counted  by 
the  Senate,  indicated  that  Jefferson  and  Burr  had 
each  received  the  same  number  of  votes.  The  de- 
cision thereupon  devolved  under  the  Constitution 
upon  the  House  of  Representatives,  voting  by 
States.  The  Federalists  had  a  decided  majority 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  could  not  for 


166  Pittsburgh 

the  purposes  of  this  election,  control  a  majority  of 
the  States;  neither  could  the  Republicans.  In 
the  course  of  the  summer  the  capital  had  been 
removed  from  Philadelphia  to  the  new  town  of 
Washington.  Only  the  north  wing  of  the  capitol 
was  completed,  and  this  was  fitted  up  for  the 
accommodation  of  both  houses  of  the  Sixth  Con- 
gress. The  House  of  Representatives  then  became 
the  battle-ground  for  the  presidency  and  vice- 
presidency.  Jefferson  and  Burr  were  both  voted 
for,  the  Constitution  providing  that  two  candi- 
dates should  be  voted  for,  the  one  receiving  the 
highest  number  of  votes  to  be  president,  and  the 
other  vice-president. 

The  struggle  grew  in  intensity,  and  the  excite- 
ment became  acute.  The  sick  members  were 
brought  into  the  House  on  beds.  Ballot  after 
ballot  was  taken.  The  Federalists  were  mostly 
voting  for  Burr.  The  first  day's  session  was  ex- 
tended into  the  next  day.  The  House  remained 
in  session  seven  days,  a  recess  being  taken  at 
night  after  the  first  day's  session.  The  Federalists 
were  uneasy  about  several  matters,  but  particu- 
larly about  the  continuance  in  office  of  their  friends. 


Zadok  Cramer  167 

Finally  they  secured  from  Jefferson  an  expression 
indicating  that  meritorious  subordinate  officers 
would  not  be  removed  merely  on  account  of  their 
political  opinion.  This  settled  the  question. 
At  noon  on  February  I7th,  the  thirty-fifth  bal- 
lot was  taken  with  no  result  as  before,  but  on 
the  thirty-sixth  ballot,  Jefferson  was  elected. 
The  vice-presidency  thereupon  devolved  upon 
Burr.  The  joy  over  the  election  has  hardly  been 
equalled  in  the  annals  of  American  political  his- 
tory. This  was  especially  true  in  the  vicinity  of 
Pittsburgh.  On  the  day  ofj  the  inauguration 
of  Jefferson  and  Burr,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
neighboring  town  Beaver  gave  vent  to  their  exu- 
berance by  dancing  Indian  dances,  and  singing 
the  Ca  Ira,  and  the  Carmagnole  of  the  French 

•3 

Revolution.3  Cramer  saw  another  business  op- 
portunity and  determined  on  his  second  publica- 
tion. It  was  to  be  an  account  of  the  struggle  in 
the  House  of  Representatives.  On  March  21, 
1801,  seventeen  days  after  Jefferson's  inaugura- 
tion, Cramer  announced  the  book. 

Cramer's  energies  were  not  to  be  confined  to  the 
business  of  publishing,  of  selling  books  and  sta- 


168  Pittsburgh 

tionery,  and  doing  bookbinding.  Like  John  C. 
Gilkison,  he  determined  to  possess  a  circulating 
library6;  perhaps  the  nucleus  was  to  be  the  books 
received  from  Gilkison's  library.  He  called  it  the 
" Pittsburgh  Circulating  Library"  and  it  pros- 
pered, and  six  months  after  its  establishment,  the 
circulation  had  nearly  doubled.7  A  catalogue 
was  promised  for  an  early  date8  and  was  no  doubt 
issued.  The  list  of  the  original  books  in  the 
library  appears  to  have  been  lost.  From  notices 
of  the  reception  of  later  books9  some  opinion 
may  be  formed  of  the  general  character  of  the 
reading-matter  in  the  library.  The  books  were 
mainly  romances,  and  they  may  have  lacked 
the  merit  of  later-day  novels,  but  there  is  some- 
thing about  them  that  touches  the  heart.  Also 
they  recall  from  the  shadows  visions  of  readers 
long  since  dead.  The  books  were  realistic;  they 
presented  the  life  of  a  distant  past  in  vivid 
colors;  there  is  the  lingering  scent  of  lavender 
and  bergamot.  Delightfully  described  in  their 
voluminous  pages  were  languishing  eyes,  tender 
accents,  quaint  dances,  dreamy  music,  and  start- 
ling and  sometimes  unreal  adventures.  Ladies 


Zadok  Cramer  169 

were  the  principal  readers;  they  loved  long  tales, 
and  the  authors  supplied  them.  Novels  in  three 
and  four  volumes  were  common,  and  some  were 
divided  into  as  many  as  six  volumes. 

The  three  most  popular  writers  were  the  English 
novelists,  Mrs.  Ann  Ward  Radcliffe  and  William 
Godwin,  and  the  Philadelphian,  Charles  Brockden 
Brown,  who  was  one  of  America's  earliest  novelists. 
Mrs.  Radcliffe  was  the  best  writer  of  the  three. 
Her  novels  fascinated  her  readers.  Cramer's 
library  supplied  Romance  of  the  Forest,  one  of  her 
best  books.  William  Godwin  was  represented 
by  St.  Leon,  a  tale  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in 
which  much  that  is  supernatural  and  terrible  is 
introduced.  Two  books  were  by  Charles  Brock- 
den  Brown,  one  being  a  graphic  story  of  Phila- 
delphia life  during  the  yellow-fever  epidemic  of 
1793,  called,  Arthur  Mervin,  or  Memoirs  of  the 
Year  1793,  the  other  was,  Edgar  Huntly,  or  Mem- 
oirs of  a  Sleep-walker.  Montalbert  was  by  that 
most  prolific  of  English  writers,  Mrs.  Charlotte 
Turner  Smith,  who  in  her  day  was  criticized  and 
praised  with  equal  vehemence.  Mordaunt  was 
perhaps  the  best  novel  of  Dr.  John  Moore,  who 


170  Pittsburgh 

besides  being  a  physician  and  novelist,  wrote 
books  descriptive  of  manners  and  customs  in 
England,  France,  and  Italy. 

If  the  number  of  the  author's  books  in  the  li- 
brary, was  the  criterion  of  his  popularity,  then  the 
palm  must  be  awarded  to  George  Walker,  the 
English  bookseller,  who  was  a  prolific  writer  of 
novels.  Three  were  on  Cramer's  shelves,  Theodore 
Cyphon,  or  the  Beneveloent  Jew,  The  Vagabond, 
and  Three  Spaniards.  The  last  is  the  only  one 
that  may  still  be  met  with.  A  popular  book  was 
Children  of  the  Abbey,  by  Mrs.  Regina  Maria  Roche, 
who  was  a  rival  of  Mrs.  Radcliffe.  Madame  de 
StaeTs  Delphine,  was  read  in  more  restricted 
circles.  In  the  case  of  Julia  and  the  Illumin- 
ated Baron,  by  Miss  Sarah  Barrell,  an  encyclopedia 
would  be  required  to  find  either  the  name  of  the 
book  or  of  the  author.  Other  books  with  suggestive 
titles  have  become  still  more  obscure.  Among 
them  were  The  Silver  Devil,  Being  the  Adventures  of 
an  Evil  Spirit,  related  by  himself;  The  Rebel,  Being 
a  Memoir  of  Anthony  4th  Earl  of  Sherwell,  Includ- 
ing an  Account  of  the  Rising  at  Taunton  in  1684, 
Compiled  and  Set  Forth  by  his  Cousin,  Sir  Hilary 


Zadok  Cramer  171 

Mace;  The  Wanderings  of  William,  or  the  Incon- 
stancy of  Youth,  being  a  sequel  to  the  Farmer  of 
New  Jersey.  There  were  few  periodicals  in  the 
library.  The  American  Museum,  emanating  from 
Philadelphia,  was  a  monthly  publication,  and 
contained  articles  on  almost  every  conceivable 
subject — "agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures, 
politics,  morals,  and  manners."  The  Mirror,  was 
another  Philadelphia  periodical  published  semi- 
weekly,  and  was  a  reprint  of  The  Mirror  of  Edin- 
burgh. The  Philanthropist,  appeared  weekly. 

The  library  continued  to  be  an  institution  in 
Pittsburgh's  intellectual  progress  for  many  years. 
It  became  the  Pittsburgh  Library  Company,  and 
contained  as  high  as  two  thousand  volumes. 
On  November  27,  1813,  after  Cramer's  death,  a 
new  library  was  organized,  also  called  the  "Pitts- 
burgh Library  Company."  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  confer  with  the  old  Pittsburgh 
Library  Company  upon  the  propriety  of  forming 
a  coalition  of  the  two  institutions.10  Of  this 
committee,  John  Spear,  who  had  become  a  part- 
ner of  Cramer's,  was  a  member.  A  consolidation 
was  later  effected. 


172  Pittsburgh 

The  publications  for  which  Cramer  was  best 
known  in  the  early  days,  were  his  almanacs  and 
Navigators.  The  publication  of  almanacs  was 
common  to  all  publishers  in  the  border  settlements, 
no  less  than  in  the  more  effete  East.  In  1803, 
Cramer's  Almanac  had  developed  into  a  pamphlet 
which  is  to-day  both  curious  and  valuable.  The 
edition  for  that  year  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  other 
almanacs  which  followed  it.  The  astronomical 
tables, ' '  calculated  for  the  meridian  of  Pittsburgh, ' ' 
were  said  to  "serve  without  any  sensible  variation 
for  the  states  of  Ohio,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  etc." 
The  almanac  also  contained  selections  from  the 
leading  English  contemporary  writers.  It  neces- 
sarily followed  that  the  articles  were  by  English 
writers,  as  American  authors  were  pitifully  scarce. 
"The  Poor  Distracted  Young  Woman,"  was 
from  Robert  Bloomfield's  Farmer's  Boy.  The 
Farmer's  Boy  from  which  the  extract  was  taken 
had  previously  had  a  remarkable  success,  over 
twenty-five  thousand  copies  being  sold  within  two 
years  after  its  publication  in  1800.  Other  selec- 
tions were,  "A  Description  of  a  Summer  Morning," 
from  James  Beattie's  poem,  The  Minstrel;  "Sic  a 


Zadok  Cramer  173 

Wife  as  Willy  Had, "  from  Robert  Burns;  a  biog- 
raphy of  Dr.  Isaac  Watts,  whose  version  of  the 
Psalms  had  superseded  that  of  Rouse,  and  was 
in  general  use  among  the  Presbyterians  of  Western 
Pennsylvania.  There  were  suggestions  on  various 
subjects — "Polonius's  Advice  to  his  Son  Laertes," 
and  "Dr.  Soloman's  Observations."  The  last 
article  was  by  Dr.  Samuel  Soloman,  a  London 
physician  who  was  termed  a  quack,  but  the 
"Observations"  indicate  that  he  had  a  discrimin- 
ating knowledge  of  the  rules  of  health.  The 
ague,  while  not  prevalent  in  Pittsburgh,  was  com- 
mon west  and  south  of  the  town.  For  this  ail- 
ment there  was  a  "Receipt  to  Cure  the  Ague,"  and 
there  was  an  "Advertisement  to  Farmers." 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had  been 
in  force  since  1788.  Its  provisions  were  little 
known  to  the  general  public  and  the  almanac 
published  it  in  full.  The  Constitution  became 
the  model  for  the  constitutions  of  almost  all  the 
States,  old  as  well  as  new.  For  this  much  credit 
was  due  to  Cramer's  Almanac,  at  least  so  far  as  some 
of  the  Western  and  Southwestern  States  are  con- 
cerned. More  valuable  than  anything  contained 


174  Pittsburgh 

in  the  almanacs,  from  a  local  point  of  view,  were 
the  lists  of  marriages  and  deaths.  Nowhere  else 
are  they  to  be  found.  No  record  of  marriages 
or  deaths  was  required  to  be  made  by  either  the 
municipality  or  the  county.  The  church  records 
were  kept  intermittently,  and  were  imperfect. 
Few  of  the  older  families  have  records  extending 
back  to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  Cramer's  lists  furnish  the  only  accurate  infor- 
mation on  the  subject.  In  1804  he  began  publishing 
two  kinds  of  almanacs,  the  'Common  Almanac" 
and  the  "Magazine  Almanac."  The  latter  con- 
tained somewhat  more  reading  matter  than  the 
former.  The  almanacs  were  sold  in  large  quanti- 
ties both  for  local  use  and  for  distribution  south 
and  west  of  Pittsburgh.  In  the  almanac  for  1804 
Cramer  for  the  first  time  gave  "a  view  of  the 
manufacturing  trade  of  Pittsburgh."  From  that 
time  forward,  for  the  twenty-seven  years  that  the 
publication  of  the  almanacs  was  continued,  much 
valuable  local  historical  matter  is  to  be  found  in 
their  pages. 

The  Navigator  was  the  result  of  an  original  idea 
of  Cramer's.     He  had  been  in  Pittsburgh  but  a 


Zadok  Cramer  175 

short  time  when  he  realized  the  necessity  for  a 
publication  giving  detailed  information  for  navi- 
gating the  Western  rivers.  He  daily  saw  swarms 
of  immigrants  pass  through  the  place,  bound  West 
and  South,  who  lingered  there  attempting  to  learn, 
not  only  about  navigating  the  rivers,  but  of  the 
country  to  which  they  were  bound.  Ke  proposed 
to  furnish  the  information  and  set  about  collect- 
ing'data  for  the  purpose.  He  was  venturing  upon 
an  almost  uncharted  sea. 

The  basis  of  his  work  seems  to  have  been  Cap- 
tain Thomas  Hutchins's,  A  Topographical  Descrip- 
tion of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia, 
published  in  London  in  1778.  Captain  Hutch- 
ins  was  an  American,  who  had  seen  much  service 
in  the  English  army  before  the  Revolution,  mainly 
as  engineer.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  was  in 
London,  and  owing  to  his  sympathy  for  his  native 
country,  suffered  indignities  and  imprisonment, 
but  found  an  opportunity  to  publish  his  book. 
Escaping  to  America,  he  was  in  1781,  by  the 
influence  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  made  "Geogra- 
pher to  the  United  States  of  America,"  which  ap- 
pears to  have  meant  that  he  was  in  charge  of  the 


1 76  Pittsburgh 

government  surveys.  After  the  war  he  lived  in 
Philadelphia,  but  was  well  known  in  Pittsburgh 
where  he  often  stopped,  as  he  owned  considerable 
land  in  Allegheny  County.  These  facts  and  the 
knowledge  that  he  died  in  Pittsburgh  on  April  28, 
1789,  no  doubt  helped  to  draw  Cramer's  attention 
to  Hutchins's  book.  Other  works  from  which 
Cramer  may  have  obtained  materials  were  Gilbert 
Imlay's  North  America,  published  in  London  in 
1797,  and  Jedidiah  Morse's  The  American  Gaze- 
teer,  originally  published  in  London  in  1789  and 
republished  in  Boston  in  1797. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  first  edition  of 
the  Navigator  was  published  in  1801,  yet  no  copy 
bearing  that  date  is  known  to  be  in  existence. 
There  are  extant  several  copies  of  the  edition  of 
1802.  This  edition  was  called  The  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Navigator.  In  the  preface  dated 
February,  1802,  the  statement  was  made  that  two 
former  editions  had  been  issued;  that  they  were 
both  confined  to  the  navigation  of  the  Ohio  River; 
and  that  they  were  sold  in  a  very  short  time.  No 
notice  appeared  in  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette  or  the 
Tree  of  Liberty  advertising  either  of  the  two 


Zadok  Cramer  177 

earlier  editions.  The  firstjmention  of  the  Navi- 
gator appeared  in  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette  on  Febru- 
ary 26,  1802.  This  notice  stated  that  there  was 
"In  the  press  and  speedily  will  be  published  by 
Zadok  Cramer,  'The  Navigation  of  the  Mononga- 
hela,  Allegheny,  Ohio,  and  Mississippi  Rivers. ": 
The  advertisement  was  continued  in  several  suc- 
ceeding issues  of  the  paper.  Then  on  March  13, 
1802,  the  Tree  of  Liberty  announced  that  there  had 
been  published  the  day  before,  "The  Navigation  of 
the  Monongahela,  Allegheny,  and  Ohio  Rivers." 
The  notice  continued,  "and  in  a  few  days  will  be 
added  .  .  .  the 'The  Navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
(with  an  account  of  the  Missouri)."  No  other 
notices  appeared  at  or  about  this  time  conveying 
other  information.  As  the  edition  of  1802  was 
called  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Navigator,  and  the 
advertisement  in  the  Tree  of  Liberty,  referred  to  the 
publication  of  the  "Navigation  of  the  Mononga- 
,hela,  Allegheny,  and  Ohio  Rivers,"  nothing  being 
said  of  the  Mississippi,  it  might  be  inferred  that 
it  referred  to  one  or  both  of  the  earliest  editions  and 
that  they  were  published  in  1802.  The  preface 
to  the  various  editions  of  the  Navigator  published 


1 78  Pittsburgh 

after  1802,  declared  that  they  were  the  "sixth, " 
or  "seventh"  or  "eighth"  edition,  as  the  case 
might  be,  which  had  appeared  "since  1801." 
Whether  this  statement  is  the  basis  of  the  claim 
that  the  first  edition  of  the  Navigator  was  pub- 
lished in  1801,  is  not  known,  but  the  fact  remains, 
that  no  trace  of  any  Navigator  issued  in  that  year 
can  be  found.  Nor  are  there  any  known  copies 
of  the  two  earliest  editions,  whatever  the  year 
of  their  publication. 

The  earlier  editions  were  small  octavo  pam- 
phlets bound  in  coarse  paper  covers,  the  third 
containing  forty  pages.  In  this  edition  Cramer 
declared  that  he  had  obtained  the  information 
set  forth  "From  the  journals  of  gentlemen  of 
observation,  and  now  minutely  corrected  by 
several  persons  who  have  navigated  those  rivers 
for  fifteen  and  twenty  years."  It  contained  a 
description  of  and  directions  for  navigating  the 
Ohio  River,  with  only  a  description  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Directions  for  navigating  the  latter 
stream  came  in  later  editions.  When  Cramer 
began  publishing  his  early  Navigators,  France 
still  owned  the  Louisiana  Territory.  Louisiana 


Zadok  Cramer  179 

was  considered  a  great  land  of  promise  throughout 
the  United  States,  and  merchants  and  intending 
emigrants  cast  longing  eyes  in  its  direction. 
After  Louisiana  was  purchased,  the  succeeding 
editions  of  the  Navigator  contained  much  detailed 
information  regarding  it.  A  flood  of  emigration 
to  the  territory  set  in,  most  of  the  emigrants 
going  by  way  of  Pittsburgh;  and  there  was  a 
pronounced  and  constant  increase  in  the  sales 
of  the  Navigators. 

Captain  Meriwether  Lewis,  and  Captain  Wil- 
liam Clark  made  their  famous  expedition  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri  River  through  the  interior 
of  the  United  States  in  the  years  1804,  1805, 
and  1806.  In  1807  Cramer  published  the  first 
account  of  the  undertaking,  being  the  Journal 
of  Patrick  Gass,  a  member  of  the  expedition. 
From  this  book  Cramer  compiled  an  account 
of  the  Missouri  and  Columbia  rivers,  which 
appeared  in  the  Navigator  for  1808,  and  in  many 
subsequent  editions.  Each  succeeding  edition 
of  the  Navigator  was  an  improvement  on  the 
one  that  preceded  it.  Every  edition  contained 
a  description,  short  or  long,  of  the  "towns,  posts, 


i8o  Pittsburgh 

harbors,  and  settlements"  on  the  rivers  of  which 
the  work  treated,  the  matter  relating  to  Pittsburgh 
being  particularly  valuable,  and  as  the  editions 
increased  in  size,  the  descriptive  matter  grew 
in  volume. 

On  December  6,  1811,  the  most  destructive 
earthquake  of  the  century  occurred  in  the  country 
bordering  on  the  lower  Ohio  River,  and  on  the 
Mississippi,  completely  changing  the  course  of  the 
two  streams  at  numerous  points.  Cramer  promptly 
published  a  notice  of -the  fact,  warning  navigators 
of  the  danger,  and  requested  newspaper  editors 
to  print  his  notice.11  The  corrections  were  then 
made  in  the  next  edition  of  the  Navigator  which 
was  published  in  1814.  The  success  of  the  Navi- 
gator reached  its  climax  in  1814,  when  it  contained 
three  hundred  and  sixty  pages.  From  that  time 
the  size  of  the  book  gradually  decreased,  until  in 
1824,  when  its  publication  was  suspended,  it  had 
fallen  to  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  pages. 

The  information  relating  to  Pittsburgh,  and  to 
the  rivers  flowing  by  and  below  it,  cost  Cramer 
infinite  pains  to  collect.  From  Cramer's  Navi- 
gators the  early  travelers  and  later  historians 


Zadok  Cramer  181 

drew  for  facts  when  writing  about  the  Western 
country,  often  without  giving  credit.  Cramer 
complained  of  the  piracy.  In  this  connection 
he  mentioned  the  Rev.  Thaddeus  Mason  Harris, 
whose  Journal  of  a  Tour  was  published  in 
Boston  in  1805.  He  was  especially  bitter 
against  Thomas  Ash,  the  writer  of  a  book  of 
travel  which  appeared  in  London  in  1808.  He 
accused  Ash  of  having  taken  his  account  of  the 
Allegheny,  Monongahela,  and  Ohio  rivers  ver- 
batim from  the  Navigator  for  i8o6.12  Notwith- 
standing this  charge,  Ash's  book  must  have  had 
some  merit  in  Cramer's  eyes,  as  he  republished 
it  the  same  year  that  it  came  out  in  London. 
Most  of  the  writers,  however,  who  obtained 
their  information  from  the  Navigator,  gave  it  as 
their  authority.  John  Mellish  who  was  in  Pitts- 
burgh in  1811,  commended  the  work:  "The 
Pittsburgh  Navigator  is  a  little  book  containing 
a  vast  variety  of  information  regarding  the  West- 
ern country,  the  prosperity  of  which  seems  to 
be  an  object  of  peculiar  solicitude  with  the  edi- 
tors. ' ' x  3  Christian  Schultz,  coming  through  Pitts- 
burgh in  September,  1807,  had  this  to  say:  "Before 


1 82  Pittsburgh 

I  left  Pittsburgh  I  purchased  the  Navigator,  a  kind 
of  Blunt,  or  Hamilton  Moore,  for  these  waters; 
it  is  a  small  pamphlet,  but  contains  a  great  deal 
of  useful  and  miscellaneous  information,  and  is 
particularly  serviceable  to  a  stranger."14  Blunt 
was  the  American  Coast  Pilot,  published  in  1796 
by  Edmund  Blunt,  and  still  used  in  recent  years; 
Hamilton  Moore  was  an  English  work  called  the 
Practical  Navigator,  of  which  many  editions  were 
published  in  London  by  Hamilton  Moore. 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  VIII 

I  The  Western  Gleaner  or  Repository  for  Arts,  Sciences,  and 

Literature,   Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  August,   1814,  vol.  ii.,  pp» 

I73-I75- 

3    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  June  28,  1800. 

J    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  4,  1801. 

<    Tree  of  Liberty,  October  18,  1800. 

s    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  March  20,  1801. 

6     Tree  of  Liberty,  June  13,  1801. 

»    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  4,  1801. 

8     Tree  of  Liberty,  August  7,  1802. 

»    Pittsburgh    Gazette,  December    4,   1801;     Tree   of   Liberty ; 

August  7,  1802. 
10    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  December  17,  1813. 

II  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  March  27,  1812. 

"    The  Navigator,  Pittsburgh,  1814,  pp.  258-259. 

13    John  Mellish:  Travels  in  the  United  States  of  America  in  the 

years  1806-1807-1809-1810  and  1811,  Philadelphia,  vol. 

ii.,  p.  58. 
x<    Christian  Schultz,  Jun.:  Travels  on  an  Inland  Voyage,  New 

York,  1810,  p.  133.       . 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  BROADENING  OF   CULTURE 

CRAMER'S  business  prospered.  His  was 
the  only  establishment  in  Pittsburgh 
where  the  sale  of  books  was  the  predomi- 
nant feature.  He  had  long  called  it  the ' '  Pittsburgh 
Bookstore."1  Oliver  Ormsby,  whose  store  was 
in  the  brick  house  on  Water  Street,  at  the  west- 
erly side  of  Chancery  Lane,  sold  "Dil  worth's 
and  Webster's  Spelling  books,  testaments,  and 
Bibles  in  Dutch  and  English,  primers,  toy  books, 
and  a  variety  of  histories,  novels,  etc."2  Wil- 
liam Christy3  and  John  Wrenshall4  kept  a  few 
books,  a  special  feature  of  the  latter's  business 
being  the  sale  of  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards's  Sermons, 
but  compared  with  Cramer's  stock,  the  supply  of 
books  in  other  hands  was  insignificant.  Cramer 
was  also  practically  the  only  publisher  of  books 

in  the  borough.     After  he  had  been  publishing  for 

184 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        185 

a  few  years,  others  began  the  business,  but  their 
books  were  few  in  number  and  generally  unimpor- 
tant in  character.  Cramer's  advertisements  were 
sometimes  amusing.  He  sold  his  goods  for  money, 
or  in  trade,  and  in  making  the  announcement 
employed  the  axiomatic  language  of  "Poor  Rich- 
ard. "  This  was  one  of  his  naive  notices:  "I  hope 
the  ladies  and  all  good  girls  and  boys  will  not  for- 
get to  fetch  me  all  the  clean  linen  and  cotton  rags 
they  possibly  can.  Save  the  smallest  pieces  and 
put  them  in  a  rag  bag;  save  them  from  the  fire 
and  the  ash  heap.  It  is  both  honorable  and 
profitable  to  save  rags,  for  our  country  wants 
them."5 

He  added  new  lines  to  his  business.  Articles 
which  tended  to  elevate  and  refine  the  standard 
of  living  were  introduced.  Wall  papers  had  been 
in  use  in  the  East  to  a  limited  extent  since  1769, 
and  were  no  longer  rare  in  good  homes.  In  the 
West  they  were  scarcely  known  until  Cramer 
advertised  his  "large  stock  of  hanging  or  wall 
papers."6  He  sold  stationery,  writing  paper, 
Italian  and  hot-pressed  letter  paper,  wafers,  quills, 
camel-hair  pencils,  inkstands,  sealing  wax,  red 


1 86  Pittsburgh 

and  black  ink  powders.  Card  playing  was  one 
of  the  leading  social  diversions  and  he  had  the 
best  English  and  American  playing  cards.  Patent 
medicines  were  largely  used  and  Cramer  found  it 
profitable  to  supply  the  demand.  He  had  books 
of  instructions  for  the  flute,  the  violin,  the  piano- 
forte, and  books  of  songs.  His  stock  of  English 
dictionaries  included  those  of  Nathan  Bailey,  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  Thomas  Sheridan,  and  John 
Walker.  For  the  German  population  he  had 
books  in  the  German  language,  which  he  often 
designated  as  "Dutch"  books.  He  sold  German 
almanacs,  German  Bibles  and  testaments.  Many 
of  the  German  churches,  both  in  Pittsburgh  and  in 
the  surrounding  settlements,  had  schools  attached 
to  their  churches,  where  the  German  language 
was  taught  in  connection  with  English  studies. 
For  these  schools  Cramer  supplied  the  books. 
Ever  since  the  cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  United 
States  there  had  been  a  great  increase  in  the 
students  of  the  French  language  among  Ameri- 
cans, who  intended  either  to  engage  in  commerce 
with  the  people  of  that  territory,  or  expected  to 
settle  there.  The  liberally  advertised  easy  methods 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        187 

of  learning  French7  induced  many  persons  to 
engage  in  its  study.  For  these  Cramer  kept 
French  books.  He  also  sold  Greek  and  Latin 
schoolbooks,  Greek  and  Latin  dictionaries,  and 
Spanish  grammars. 

In  the  early  years  Cramer  had  no  press  of  his 
own.  A  printing  office  being  located  at  either 
end  of  the  block  in  which  he  was  established,  he 
divided  his  work  between  them.  The  Almanacs 
were  printed  by  John  Israel,  and  the  Navigators, 
by  John  Scull.  Business  increased  and  he 
deemed  it  advisable  to  do  his  own  printing,  and 
on  August  14,  1805,  announced  that  he  had 
"received  a  press,  and  a  very  handsome  assort- 
ment of  new  type,  for  the  purpose  of  printing 
such  literary  and  ecclesiastical  works  as  may  be 
most  in  demand."8  His  publications  now  be- 
came more  numerous  and  pretentious. 

He  was  too  active  to  limit  his  energies  to 
his  business.  In  1803,  he  became  Secretary  of 
the  Mechanical  Society,  and  thenceforth  devoted 
much  attention  to  the  office,  which  he  held  for 
several  years.  He  was  not  an  active  politician, 
but  was  warmly  attached  to  the  Republican  party, 


1 88  Pittsburgh 

and  moreover  had  the  respect  of  the  entire  com- 
munity. In  1811,  when  a  division  took  place  in 
the  Republican  party  in  Allegheny  County,  and 
two  tickets  were  placed  in  the  field,  his  standing 
was  such,  that  he  was  named  as  a  member  of  the 
committee  selected  to  bring  about  harmony.9 
Like  the  modern  successful  business  man,  he  had  a 
desire  for  the  free  life  and  clear  skies  of  the  coun- 
try, and  he  engaged  in  farming  and  sheep-raising. 
When  he  died  he  had  on  the  plantation  of 
his  brother-in-law,  Josiah  Clark,  in  Washington 
County,  a  flock  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
sheep. 

In  1808,  the  partnership  with  John  Spear  be- 
gan, and  the  firm  became  known  as  Cramer  & 
Spear.  The  establishment,  however,  continued 
to  be  called  "Zadok  Cramer's  Bookstore";  some- 
times it  was  advertised  as  "Zadok  Cramer's  Classi- 
cal, Literary,  and  Law  Bookstore."  In  1810, 
William  Eichbaum  was  taken  into  the  firm.  He 
had  served  a  seven  years'  apprenticeship  in  book- 
binding with  Cramer,  and  with  Cramer  &  Spear, 
and  was  the  son  of  William  Eichbaum,  the  elder. 
It  may  be  that  young  Eichbaum  was  the  "active 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        189 

youth  of  good  morals  and  respectable  character, 
wanted  to  learn  the  bookbinding  and  stationery 
business,"  for  whom  Cramer  had  advertised  on 
November  6,  1802. 10  The  firm  was  now  Cramer, 
Spear  &  Eichbaum,  and  continued  as  such  until 
1818,  the  year  of  the  death  of  Elizabeth  Cramer, 
the  widow  of  Zadok  Cramer,  when  Eichbaum  with- 
drew and  the  firm  was  again  changed  to  Cramer 
&  Spear. 

Cramer  had  traveled  extensively,  first  in  pur- 
suit of  information  for  his  Navigators,  and 
later  in  search  of  health.  He  went  down  the 
Ohio  in  1806.  In  1810,  he  was  in  Kentucky.11 
When  the  New  Orleans,  the  first  steamboat  that 
ran  on  the  Western  rivers  was  being  operated 
between  Natchez  and  New  Orleans,  he  de- 
scended the  Mississippi  River  in  it  twice,  from 
the  former  to  the  latter  place.  Much  of  the 
information  in  regard  to  the  New  Orleans,  its 
structure,  cost,  earnings,  and  length  of  time 
required  between  river  points,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Navigators. 12 

It  would  be  impossible  at  this  late  day  to 
compile  a  complete  list  of  Cramer's  publications, 


190  Pittsburgh 

nor  would  it  serve  any  useful  purpose.  He  pub- 
lished many  schoolbooks,  particularly  for  chil- 
dren in  the  primary  grades.  His  Pittsburgh  and 
New  England  primers,  and  the  United  States 
Spelling  Book,  were  famous  in  their  day.  Ec- 
clesiastical books  were  in  great  demand,  and 
Cramer  met  it.  Catechisms  were  used  as  books 
of  primary  instruction  and  were  printed  in  many 
forms;  there  were  Larger  Catechisms,  Shorter  Cate- 
chisms, the  Mother's  Catechism,  and  the  Child's 
Catechism.  For  the  Germans  he  published  in 
German,  The  Shorter  Catechism  of  Dr.  Martin 
Luther.  The  religious  books  that  came  from 
his  press  would  form  an  endless  list.  Among 
those  having  a  bearing  on  the  history  of  that 
time  was,  The  Marks  of  a  Work  of  the  Spirit, 
together  with  Remarks  Respecting  the  Present  As- 
tonishing Work  of  God,  and  Revival  of  Religion 
in  the  Western  Country,  by  J.  Hughes  of  West 
Liberty.13  "J.  Hughes,"  was  the  Rev.  James 
Hughes,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  churches  at 
Lower  Buffalo  in  Washington  County,  and  West 
Liberty  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Ohio  in  Virginia, 
and  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  recently  estab- 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        191 

lished  Jefferson  College,  the  pioneer  college  of  the 
West. 

Cramer  lived  and  flourished  in  an  age  when 
many  of  the  publications  sent  out  in  the  name  of 
religion  contained  the  merest  drivel,  or  were 
elaborations  of  theories  in  regard  to  matters 
infinite  held  by  narrow-minded  controversialists. 
The  press  was  flooded  with  them.  There  were 
publications  bearing  such  depressing  titles  as 
The  Happy  Voyage  Completed,  and  The  Sure 
Anchor  Cast.  Cramer  realized  that  in  publishing 
works  of  this  character  he  might  be  misunder- 
stood. This  sentiment  was  evident  in  the  adver- 
tisement of  at  least  one  of  his  publications.  On 
that  occasion  he  prefaced  his  notice  by  stating: 
"On  the  recommendation  of  some  pious  friends,  we 
contemplate  printing,  A  Token  for  children,  Being 
an  exact  account  of  the  Conversion,  holy  and  exem- 
plary Lives  and  Joyful  Deaths  of  several  young 
children!"** 

The  most  pretentious  of  his  works  was  religious 
in  character,  and  was  published  in  1807.  It  was 
A  Dictionary  of  the  Holy  Bible  by  the  Rev.  John 
Brown  of  Haddington,  in  Scotland,  of  which  two 


192  Pittsburgh 

editions  were  printed.  It  was  a  noteworthy 
achievement  to  be  accomplished  on  the  frontier, 
hundreds  of  miles  from  the  center  of  civilization. 
Many  difficulties  had  to  be  overcome,  not  the 
least  of  which  was  the  delay  occasioned  by  the 
difficulty  in  procuring  a  regular  supply  of  paper. IS 
The  work  was  in  two  large  octavo  volumes,  and 
was  illustrated  with  engraved  pictures  and  maps 
that  are  still  desired  by  collectors.  Heading  the 
list  of  subscribers,  was  the  name  of  President  Jef- 
ferson, of  whom  Cramer  appears  to  have  been  an 
ardent  admirer.  In  1810,  the  firm  published  the 
Select  Remains  of  the  Rev.  John  Brown,  the  author 
of  the  Dictionary. 

Cramer's  publications  covered  a  wide  range. 
In  1808  The  Lawyer,  by  George  Watterson,  ap- 
peared, which  was  imbued  with  the  current  pre- 
judice against  lawyers,  and  presented  a  sorry 
spectacle  of  the  legal  profession.  The  same  year, 
a  map  of  Pittsburgh  was  published,  which,  if 
in  existence  to-day,  would  be  of  great  interest. 
One  of  his  most  valuable  contributions  to  the  liter- 
ature of  travel,  was  Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western 
Country  in  iSoj-iSop,  by  F.  Cuming,  published 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        193 

in  1810.  It  contained  according  to  Reuben  Gold 
Thwaites, l6  a  "picture  of  American  life  in  the 
West  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
that  for  clear-cut  outlines  and  fidelity  of  presen- 
tation has  the  effect  of  a  series  of  photographic 
representations."  Another  work  of  value  was 
Views  of  Louisiana,  by  Judge  Henry  M.  Bracken- 
ridge,  published  in  1814.  Cramer  had  met 
Brackenridge  in  New  Orleans,  in  December,  1811, 
while  on  one  of  his  visits  to  that  city,  and  arranged 
with  him  there  for  the  publication.17  In  1813, 
The  Poetical  Works  of  Oliver  Goldsmith  were 
brought  out. 

One  of  the  most  important  ventures  of  Cra- 
mer's entire  publishing  experience,  the  fruition 
of  which  he  did  not  live  to  see,  was  The  Western 
Gleaner  or  Repository  for  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Liter- 
ature. It  was  a  monthly  magazine  of  sixty- 
four  pages.  The  first  number  appeared  in 
December,  1813,  four  months  after  Cramer's  death. 
Compared  with  magazines  of  the  present  time,  it 
was  not  of  the  highest  order  of  literary  merit. 
In  its  day,  however,  it  ranked  with  the  best  maga- 
zines published.  The  excellent  literary  taste  of 
13 


194  Pittsburgh 

the  editor  also  appears  from  an  incident  which 
occurred  during  the  early  life  of  the  magazine. 
The  Pittsburgh  Gazette  published  a  communication 
from  a  disappointed  aspirant  for  literary  fame, 
signing  himself  "Recluse, "  whose  poem  in  fourteen 
stanzas  entitled  "The  Two  Roses,"  had  been 
declined  by  the  Western  Gleaner.  "Recluse" 
referred  sarcastically  to  the  "uncommonly  pro- 
found and  very  discerning  editor  of  the  Western 
Gleaner." 

That  the  editor  of  the  Western  Gleaner  was  more 
"discerning"  than  the  editor  of  the  Pittsburgh 
Gazette,  which  published  "Recluse's"  effort,  along 
with  his  letter,  is  evident  from  a  perusal  of  the 
poem.  The  first  stanza,  which  is  also  the  best, 
reads : 


1  The  sweetest  rose  that  ever  bloomed, 
Was  one  that,  with  insidious  sip, 
Beneath  Eliza's  smiles  presumed, 
To  pilfer  fragrance  from  her  lip."18 


The  same  persistency  which  procured  the  publi- 
cation of  "The Two  Roses"  in  the  Pittsburgh  Ga- 
zette, enabled  "Recluse"  a  few  years  later  to  find 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        195 

a  publisher  for  a  volume  of  his  poetry,  in  which 
"The  Two  Roses"  was  one  of  the  gems.19 

In  one  of  the  numbers  of  the  magazine  Judge 
Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge  contributed  a  poem, 
descriptive  of  his  feelings  on  revisiting  Pittsburgh, 
called  "On  a  Circuit  at  This  Place." 

"What  is  there  in  this  spot  of  earth 
Repellant  to  all  zest  of  mirth, 

Heart-felt  by  me, 
And  which  on  being  seen  again, 
The  Hill,  the  River  and  the  Plain 

To  sadden,  all  agree!"20 

Cramer  realized  that  books  having  a  local 
interest  would  find  a  ready  sale.  One  of  these  was 
Judge  Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge's  Modern  Chiv- 
alry; another  was  his  Incidents  of  the  Insurrection 
in  Western  Pennsylvania,  which  was  an  effort  to 
vindicate  himself  for  his  course  in  the  Whisky 
Insurrection.  Judge  Addison's  impeachment  in 
1803,  by  the  Republican  General  Assembly,  had 
created  profound  interest  in  Pittsburgh.  The 
account  of  the  trial  was  immediately  published 
in  Lancaster,  then  the  capital  of  the  State,  and 
eagerly  read.  Another  book  of  local  interest 


196  Pittsburgh 

was  Colonel  James  Smith's  Captivity  among  the 
Indians  Westward  of  Fort  Pitt  in  the  Year  1755, 
published  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  in  1799. 

Although  a  Republican  himself,  Cramer's  mer- 
cantile instincts  led  him  to  sell  books  written  in 
opposition  to  that  party.  A  little  volume  of  poems 
was  of  this  class.  David  Bruce,  a  Scotchman 
living  in  the  adjacent  village  of  Burgettstown, 
whom  Cramer  designated  as  "an  ingenious 
Scotch  poet  of  Washington  County,"  had  pub- 
lished in  1801,  in  Washington,  Pennsylvania,  a 
book  which,  while  mainly  political  in  character, 
had  considerable  merit.  Bruce  was  a  strong  Fed- 
eralist, and  his  volume  was  dedicated  to  Judge 
Addison.  To  the  Republicans,  Brackenridge, 
Gallatin,  McKean,  and  other  more  or  less  local 
celebrities,  Bruce's  references  were  disparaging. 
To  Brackenridge  he  addressed  the  cynical 
lines: 

"When  Whisky-Boys  sedition  sang, 
An'  anarchy  strod  owre  the  Ian' 

When  Folly  led  Rebellion's  ban' 
Sae  fierce  an'  doure, 

Fo'ks  said  ye  sleely  lent  a  han' 
Tomakthestoure."21 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        197 

A  book  of  the  same  character,  but  covering  a 
wider  range,  and  of  a  higher  literary  tone,  was  The 
Echo.  It  had  a  local  interest  in  that  it  contained  a 
number  of  clever  satirical  references  to  Judge  Hugh 
Henry  Brackenridge.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  Hartford  was  the  literary  center 
of  Federalistic  ideas .  They  were  promulgated  by  a 
group  of  young  authors  known  as  the  "Hartford 
Wits. ' '  Included  in  the  coterie  was  Richard  Alsop, 
who  was  the  principal  writer  of  The  Echo.  The  Echo 
had  originally  appeared  serially,  but  in  1807,  the 
parts  were  collected  and  published  in  a  volume. 
The  allusions  to  Brackenridge  indicated  a  keen  sense 
of  humor  and  considerable  poetic  spirit .  An  article 
written  by  Brackenridge  had  appeared  in  1792  in 
the  National  Gazette  of  Philadelphia,  then  recently 
established  as  the  organ  of  the  Republicans,  in  which 
he  urged  savage  reprisals  against  the  Indians,  who 
were  causing  trouble  west  of  Pittsburgh.  To  this 
screed,  The  Echo  made  the  mocking  reply: 

"I  grant  my  pardon  to  that  dreaming  clan, 
Who  think  that  Indians  have  the  rights  of  man; 
Who  deem  the  dark  skinn'd  chiefs  those  miscreants 
base, 


198  Pittsburgh 

Have  souls  like  ours,  and  are  of  human  race; 
And  say  the  scheme  so  wise,  so  nobly  plann'd. 
For  rooting  out  these  serpents  from  the  land, 
To  kill  their  squaws,  their  children  yet  unborn, 
To  burn  their  wigwams,  and  pull  up  their  corn; 
By  sword  and  fire  to  purge  the  unhallow'd  train, 
And  kindly  send  them  to  a  world  of  pain, 
Is  vile,  unjust,  absurd : — as  if  our  God 
One  single  thought  on  Indians  e'er  bestow'd, 
To  them  his  care  extends,  or  even  knew, 
Before  Columbus  told  him  where  they  grew."22 

On  another  occasion  when  Brackenridge  was  a 
candidate  for  Congress,  he  published  in  the  Aurora 
Sin  appeal  to  the  electors  of  his  Congressional 
District  in  which  he  animadverted  harshly  on 
the  educational  accomplishments  of  General  John 
Woods,  his  Federalist  opponent.  This  presented 
another  opportunity  for  the  clever  writers  of 
The  Echo  to  burlesque  a  leading  Republican.  The 
Echo  gibed: 

"But,  to  return  to  Woods, — to  speak  my  mind, 
His  education  was  of  narrow  kind ; 
Nor  has  he  since  to  learning  much  applied, 
But  smil'd  with  calm  contempt  on  pedant  pride. 
His  mental  powers,  howe'er,  superior  shine, 
His  genius  glows  with  energy  divine. 
But  when  with  mine  in  competition  plac'd. 
How  low  his  powers,  his  genius  sinks  debas'd, 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        199 

Has  not  my  genius  shone  with  peerless  ray, 
And  o'er  Ohio  pour'd  the  blaze  of  day? 
Have  not  my  writings  spread  abroad  my  name, 
And  bards  consign'd  me  to  immortal  fame  ? 
Then  shall  John  Woods  with  me  presume  to  vie, 
The  brightest  star  that  decks  the  western  sky?"33 

Cramer's  books  covered  the  entire  range  of 
literary  endeavor  and  among  them  were  a  majority 
of  the  contemporary  publications.  The  French 
Revolutionary  movement  was  well  represented. 
A  work  coming  under  this  designation  was  the 
Life  and  Campaigns  of  General  Count  Alexander 
Suwarrow,  which  was  of  interest  also  because 
Suwarrow's  title  to  fame  rested  at  least  partly 
on  the  fact  that  he  was  the  originator  of  the  high 
tasseled-boot,  much  worn  both  in  military  and  civil 
circles  after  the  year  1800.  There  was  a  flood 
of  Bonapartist  literature.  A  book  of  this  class 
which  had  a  local  interest  was  the  Life  of  General 
Jean  Victor  Moreau.  After  being  exiled  from 
France  on  account  of  conspiring  against  Napo- 
leon, this  officer  had  come  to  the  United  States 
in  1805,  and  made  a  tour  of  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  Valleys.  Having  passed  through 
Pittsburgh,  his  name  was  well  known  there.  Works 


200  Pittsburgh 

of  travel  were  numerous.  Conspicuous  in  biog- 
raphy were  the  lives  of  Washington,  Franklin, 
and  Kotzebue,  the  German  playright  and  novelist, 
then  at  the  height  of  his  career.  There  were  his- 
tories of  various  European  countries,  and  William 
Winterbotham's  History  of  the  American  United 
States.  The  History  of  Women,  if  at  hand  to-day, 
would  be  of  interest  to  that  large  body  of  women 
who  are  making  such  herculean  efforts  to  obtain 
greater  rights  for  their  sex.  Among  the  notable 
books  of  the  day  was  Thomas  Jefferson's  Notes  on 
the  State  of  Virginia.  Two  editions  had  been 
published  prior  to  Jefferson's  becoming  President. 
After  the  election  in  1800,  the  work  was  re- 
published  in  a  large  octavo  volume,  for  which 
Cramer  was  agent  in  Pittsburgh. 24  Another  book 
which  attracted  considerable  attention  was  the 
History  of  John  Adams,  Esquire,  late  president  of 
the  United  States,  by  John  Wood.  It  was  a  rank 
Republican  account  of  a  most  interesting  period. 
It  was  printed  and  ready  for  publication  in  De- 
cember, 1801,  but  was  suppressed  at  the  instigation 
of  Aaron  Burr,  as  being  incorrect  and  libel ous. 
The  book  was  finally  published  in  1802.  A  com- 


The  Broadening  of  Culture       201 

panion-piece  to  Wood's  book,  was  the  one  by 
James  Cheetham,  which  gave  an  account  of  the 
suppression.  It  was  entitled,  A  Narrative  of  the 
Suppression  by  Col.  Burr  of  the  History  of  the 
Administration  of  John  Adams,  by  a  Citizen  of 
New  York. 

Philosophy  was  not  neglected.  Representative 
of  that  science  were  William  Enfield's  History 
of  Philosophy,  William  Smellie's  Philosophy  of 
Natural  History,  Francis  Hutchinson's  System 
of  Moral  Philosophy,  and  Count  Vplney's  Law  of 
Nature.  Books  relating  to  trades,  included  the 
Miller  and  Millwright's  Guide;  the  Young  Carpen- 
ter's Assistant;  the  New  System  of  Gardening;  the 
Dictionary  of  Husbandry;  Washington's  Letters 
to  Arthur  Young;  the  English  Gardener;  and  Ele- 
ments of  Architecture.  Freemasonry  was  described 
in  William  Preston's  Illustrations  of  Masonry. 
Among  books  relating  to  the  professions,  those 
pertaining  to  divinity  were  most  numerous.  The 
Methodists  had  increased  in  numbers  and  were  in 
better  standing  in  the  community.  John  Wren- 
shall  was  addressed  as  the  "Rev."  John  Wrenshall, 
and  Cramer  began  to  sell  the  Memoirs  of  George 


202  Pittsburgh 

Whitfield,  the  famous  exponent  of  Methodism. 
Law  books  were  a  close  second  to  those  of  divinity. 
There  were  books  on  state,  national,  and  inter- 
national law.  In  medicine  there  were  books  for 
family  use,  and  books  for  physicians. 

Belles-lettres  and  poetry  formed  an  important 
department.  Predominant  in  belles-lettres  were 
the  writings  of  Addison,  Steele,  and  Pope  in  the 
Spectator,  and  its  successors,  the  Guardian,  and 
the  Tattler;  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  "Rambler";  and 
Salmagundi,  when  it  appeared  in  1807.  Junius's 
Letters;  the  works  of  Lawrence  Sterne ;  the  Posthu- 
mous Works  of  Jonathan  Swift ;  and  Peter  Pindar's 
Satires  were  other  books  in  this  department.  In 
the  selection  of  plays,  those  of  Kotzebue  were 
prominent.  The  English  plays  were  represented 
by  George  Colman,  the  younger's,  The  Poor 
Gentleman,  a  comedy  produced  in  Covent  Gar- 
den in  1801,  and  by  Thomas  Morton's,  Speed 
the  Plough,  produced  in  1798.  Because  of  its 
authorship,  The  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  by  Judge 
Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge,  had  a  local  interest. 
In  the  realm  of  poetry,  were  the  poems  of  John 
Pomfret,  Robert  Burns,  Dr.  Thomas  Brown, 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        203 

Alexander  Pope,  John  Milton,  Thomas  Moore, 
Allan  Ramsay,  and  Robert  Southey.  In  this 
class  was  Thomas  Campbell's  The  Pleasures  of 
Hope;  James  Beattie's  The  Minstrel;  Samuel 
Rogers's  Pleasures  of  Memory;  William  Cowper's 
Beauties  of  Cowper,  and  The  Task;  Joel  Barlow's 
The  Vision  of  Columbus;  Robert  Bloomfield's,  The 
Farmer's  Boy,  and  A  Song;  James  Thomson's 
Seasons.  Zaida,  by  Kotzebue;  Charlotte  Temple, 
by  Mrs.  Susanna  Rowson,  and  Don  Quixote  were 
popular  romances.  In  colonial  days,  and  in  the 
early  days  of  the  republic,  little  stitched  pamph- 
lets, called  chapbooks,  because  largely  circulated 
by  itinerant  vendors,  or  chapmen,  were  much  in 
vogue.  Books  in  this  form  for  children  had  a 
large  circulation,  and  Cramer  carried  an  inter- 
esting list. 

Cramer's  upright  nature  often  led  him  to  express 
opinions  that  were  contrary  to  the  views  obtaining 
in  publications  of  his  firm.  Cuming  in  his  Tour 
of  the  Western  Country,  in  the  reference  to  Pitts- 
burgh had  written:  "Amusements  are  also  a  good 
deal  attended  to,  particularly  the  annual  horse 
races."  On  this  observation  Cramer  commented 


204  Pittsburgh 

in  a  note:  "We  are  sorry  to  have  to  acknowledge 
that  horse  racing  contrary  to  the  express  law  of  the 
State,  has  been  more  or  less  practiced  within  the 
vicinity  of  this  place  for  a  few  years  back;  but  we 
are  pleased  with  the  prospect  of  having  it  totally 
abolished  by  the  influence  of  its  evident  impro- 
priety, danger,  and  wickedness,  operating  on  the 
minds  of  the  more  thoughtful  and  judicious."25 
That  Cramer  was  not  alone  in  condemning  the 
horse  races  is  apparent  from  a  communication 
which  had  appeared  in  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette  six 
years  earlier.26  This  writer  designated  the  races 
as  "a  fruitful  seminary  of  vice."  He  declared 
that  the  "schools  and  shops  are  shut  up  or  de- 
serted, and  the  youth  of  both  sexes  run  to  harm, 
folly,  and  debauchery.  .  .  .  The  money,  too,  which 
ought  to  be  expended  in  the  honest  maintenance  of 
families  and  the  payment  of  debts  is  squandered 
on  sharpers,  gamblers  and  sutlers. " 

If  some  fact  or  custom  was  referred  to,  which 
Cramer  considered  morally  wrong,  or  which  might 
disparage  Pittsburgh  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  at 
large,  he  spoke  out  vigorously  in  opposition.  In 
the  Navigator  for  i8n,27  the  statement  was 


The  Broadening  of  Culture        205 

made  that  there  were  "two  or  three  whisky  dis- 
tilleries in  the  town."  This  was  immediately 
followed  in  the  text  by  a  disapproval  of  distilleries, 
and  a  quaint  homily  on  the  evils  of  intemperance. 
"We  cannot  say  anything  in  praise  of  these," 
Cramer  wrote.  "Whisky  as  a  medicine  is  good, 
that  is,  to  take  it  only  when  the  system  requires  it 
and  no  more  than  is  sufficient  to  perform  the 
part  of  a  gentle  stimulant ;  but  to  drink  it  as  is  now 
universally  practiced,  is  destructive  of  health, 
strength,  morals,  religion,  and  honesty;  and  is  a 
serious  national  calamity,  in  which  man  sinks  in  the 
estimation  of  himself,  and  becomes  an  abhorrence 
in  the  eyes  of  God. " 

Cramer's  career  was  short.  He  had  never  been 
robust,  and  close  attention  to  business  had  un- 
dermined his  constitution;  consumption  devel- 
oped. He  attempted  in  vain  to  obtain  relief  in 
southern  travel,  and  died  on  August  I,  1813, 
just  before  reaching  his  fortieth  year,  at  Pen- 
sacola,  Florida,  while  on  the  way  to  Havana, 
the  journey  having  been  recommended  by  his 
physician.  In  Pensacola  his  remains  were  buried 
and  there  they  lie  in  an  unmarked  grave.  To 


206  Pittsburgh 

the  last  he  was  planning  new  business  projects, 
and  preserved  his  cheerfulness  to  the  end.  Not 
once  was  he  known  to  be  fretful  or  ill-natured. 
He  left  his  widow  and  one  child,  a  daughter, 
Susan.  The  firm  was  continued  for  many  years, 
first  by  the  widow,  in  conjunction  with  John  Spear, 
and  after  her  death  on  May  5,  1818,  by  the  daugh- 
ter. The  affairs  of  the  partnership  were  not 
wound  up  until  July  6,  1835. 

In  early  life  the  daughter  married  Dr.  J.  B. 
Cochran  in  Pittsburgh.  Becoming  a  widow, 
she  removed  to  Beaver,  Pennsylvania,  with  her 
three  children.  Her  children  were  Zadok  Cramer 
Cochran,  James  Spear  Cochran,  and  Mary 
Cochran.  After  their  mother's  death  in  1854, 
the  children  removed  to  Coatesville,  Pennsyl- 
vania. From  Coatesville  they  went  to  Free- 
port,  Illinois.  Here  the  two  sons  engaged  in 
teaching  and  conducted  an  academy.  James 
later  took  up  the  study  of  the  law,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Bar.  Drifting  into  politics  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate.  The  two  brothers 
are  both  dead,  but  the  sister  is  still  living,  being 
the  wife  of  Joseph  •  Emmert,  of  Freeport,  Illinois. 


REFERENCES 
CHAPTER  IX 

1  Tree  of  Liberty,  August  7,  1802. 

a  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  10,  1800. 

J  Tree  of  Liberty,  January  16,  1802. 

*  Tree  of  Liberty,  October  8,  1803. 

s  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  April  19,  1808. 

6  Tree  of  Liberty,  May  21,  1803. 

7  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  9,  1801. 

8  The  Commonwealth,  August  14,  1805. 

'  The  Commonwealth,  September  29,  1811.  * 

10  Tree  of  Liberty,  November  6,  1802. 

11  The  Navigator,  Pittsburgh,  1814,  pp.  272-277. 
11  The  Navigator,  Pittsburgh,  1814,  pp.  31-32. 

13  Tree  of  Liberty,  June  4,  1803. 

14  The  Pittsburgh  Magazine  Almanac  for  1810. 
Js     The  Pittsburgh  Magazine  Almanac  for  1807. 

16  REUBEN  GOLD  THWAITES:  Fortescue  Cuming,  Sketches  of  a 
Tour  to  the  Western  Country  in  1807-1809,  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  1904,  p.  9. 

J?  H.  M.  BRACKENRIDGE:  Views  of  Louisiana,  Pittsburgh, 
1814,  p.  4. 

18    Pittsburgh  Gazette,  January  28,  1814. 

J»  THE  RECLUSE:  The  Art  of  Domestic  Happiness  and  Other 
Poems,  Pittsburgh,  1817,  pp.  1-317. 

30  The  Western  Gleaner  or  Repository  for  Arts,  Sciences,  and 
Literature,  Pittsburgh,  1814,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  185-186. 

ai  DAVID  BRUCE:  Poems  entirely  in  the  Scottish  Dialect,  origin- 
ally written  under  the  signature  of  the  Scots-Irishman, 
Washington,  1801,  p.  46. 

"     The  Echo,  pp.  32-39. 

33     The  Echo,  pp.  150-151. 

207 


208  Pittsburgh 


Tree  of  Liberty,  January  24,  1801. 

F.  CUMING:  Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the  Western  Country  in  1807- 

1809,  Pittsburgh,  1810,  p.  231. 
Pittsburgh  Gazette,  October  16,  1801. 
The  Navigator,  Pittsburgh,  1811,  p.  63. 


INDEX 


Adams,  George,  114,  128 

Adams,  Henry,  81 

Adams,  John,  165;  History  of, 

200 

Addison,     Alexander,     Judge, 
impeachment  of,  47-48,  139, 
195;  Federalist,  131,  132 
Adgate  &  Co.,  104 
Allegheny  County,  22,  23 
Allegheny  County  Courts,  157 
Allegheny  County  Militia,  74, 

75 

Almanacs,  4,  165,  172;  Cram- 
er's, 172-174;  "Common," 
174;  "Magazine,"  174 

Alsop,  Richard,  197 

Amberson,  Beelen,  &  Anshutz, 

152 

American  Coast  Pilot,  182 
Amusements,  67-74,  186,  203 
Arnold,  actor,  70 
Ash,  Thomas,  181 
Ash  ton,  Capt.  Joseph,  95,  151 
Ash  ton  &  Denny,  152 
Audrian,  Peter,  49 
Aurora,  newspaper,  51 

Baird,  Thomas,  96,  128,  130 
Baldwin,  Henry,  96,  141,  148, 

149;  attacked  by  Pentland, 

145,  146 

Balls,  68,  72 ;  for  Gen.  Lee,  69 
Bank    of    Pennsylvania, 

branch,  93,  116 
Baptists,  95 

Barker,  Abner,  n6,  117,  132 
Barker,  Jeffe,  116,  117 
Barker,  Jeremiah,  117,  132 
Barrett,  William,  121 

14  209 


Bartholf,  Francis,  Baron  de 
Belen,  152 

Bates,  Edward,  145 

Bates,  Frederick,  143,  145,  148 

Bates,  James,  145,  148 

Bates,  Tarleton,  96, 131, 141  ff.; 
duel,  142-150 

Bausman,  Elizabeth,  marriage, 
125 

Bausman,  Jacob,  30;  varied 
career,  41-42 

Bausman,  Nicholas,  41 

Bayard,  Colo.  Stephen,  5 

Beaujolais,  Count  of,  1 1 1 

Bedford  County,  2 

Beelen,  Anthony,  96,  150,  152 

Beelen,  Francis,  152 

Beltzhoover,  Melchoir,  41 

"Black  Charley,"  39 

Blunt,    Edmund,    American 
Coast  Pilot,  182 

Boat  yards,  8,  40,  92 

Books,  in  households,  14;  sale 
of,  14,  15,  27;  interest  in,  27; 
most  popular,  169-171; 
Cramer's  publications,  189 
ff . ;  contemporaneous  history, 
190;  of  local  interest,  195- 
196;  contemporary  publica- 
tions, 199;  in  Cramer's  book- 
store, 199  ff. 

Bookstores,  95;  first  27;  Cram- 
er's "Pittsburgh  Bookstore," 
Il6,  163,  186,  188,  199  ff.; 
Christy's  and  Wrenshall's, 
184 

Boyd,  John,  15,  16 

B  rackenridge,  Henry  M. ,  Judge, 
recollections  of  Grant's  Hill, 


2IO 


Index 


Brackenridge,  Henry — Cont'd 
71 ;  account  of  horse  racing, 
73;  on  the   Court  of  Alle- 
gheny  County,    118;    Views 
of  Louisiana,  193 

Brackenridge,  Hugh  Henry, 
Judge,  49,  71;  author,  26 
I95»  J97.  J98,  202;  Modern 
Chivalry,  26;  political  leader, 
55,  Fourth  of  July  speech, 
56;  Justice  of  Supreme  Court 
58;  opposed  to  Brison,  58  ff.; 
and  the  Tree  of  Liberty, 
62-63;  and  the  Whisky 
Insurrection,  81,  106,  124, 
195;  Freemason,  95;  resi- 
dence, 97,  115;  antagonizes 
soldiers,  115-116;  candidate 
for  Congress,  125,  198;  at- 
tacks on,  133-134;  and  im- 
peachment of  Addison,  139; 
settles  Gilkison's  affairs,  163; 
Brace's  lines  to,  196;  satires 
on,  in  The  Echo,  197-198 

Braddocksfield,  119 

Brantz,  Lewis,  notes  on  Pitts- 
burgh, 9,  30 

Breweries,  78,  92 

Brickyards,  31,  92 

Brison,  James,  58-59 

Bromley,  actor,  70 

Bruce,  David,  author  of  politi- 
cal volume,  196 

Brunot,  Dr.  Felix,  48,  51 

Bryan,  George,  Justice,  118 

Building  lots,  value  of,  98-99, 

IOO 

Burr,  Aaron,  57;  election  of, 

165-167;  suppresses  History 

of  John  Adams,  200 
Business  centre  of  the  town, 

164 
Butler,  General  Richard,   95, 

122-123 
Butler,  Colonel  William,  95 

Calhoun,  John,  117 
Calhoun,  Samuel,  117 
Campbell,  Colonel  John,  4,  5 
Campbell,  Robert,  34 
Card  industry,  104 


Card  playing,  67,  186 

Carlisle,  2 

Chapman,  Thomas,  30-31 

Cheetham,  James,  201 

Christy,  William,  Merchant, 
107,  131-132,  154,  184 

Church  records,  174 

Churches,  German,  10,  93,  186; 
Presbyterian,  83,  93 ;  Episco- 
palian, 93;  Roman  Catholic, 
94;  Methodist,  94-95 

City  Hall,  50 

"Clapboard  Row,"  127;  politi- 
cal methods,  128;  opposed, 

131,  132 

"Clapboard  Row  Junto,"  127 

' '  Clapboardonian  Democracy, ' ' 
127 

Clark,  GeneralGeorge  Rodgcrs, 
141 

Clark,  Josiah,  188 

Clothing  materials,  64-65 

Coal,  7,  91,  92 

Cochran,  Dr.  J.  B.,  206 

Cochran,  John  Spear,  206 

Cochran,  Mary,  206 

Cochran,  Susan  Cramer,  206 

Cochran,  Zadok  Cramer,  206 

Comforts  and  luxuries,  63-64 

Common  Almanac,  174 

Commonwealth,    The,    news- 
paper, 138,  140 

Concerts,  69 

Constitutionalists,  140 

Coppinger,  78 

Cotton  mills,  92,  93 

County  jail,  24,  157 

Court  House,  present,  50;  first, 
117,  118;  in  1800,  155-156 

Craig,  Major  Isaac,  buys 
land  in  Pittsburgh,  5;  starts 
glass  factory,  32 ;  Freemason, 
96;  tenement  of,  106;  Feder- 
alist, 131;  Deputy  Quarter 
Master,  142 

Cramer,  Elizabeth,  189 

Cramer,  Susan,  206 

Cramer,  Zadok,  161  ff;  birth, 
162;  bookbinding,  116,  162- 
163,  bookstore,  116, 163, 184, 
188-189;  publisher,  164-165, 


Index 


211 


Cramer,  Zadok  —  Continued 
184,  publications,  165,  167, 
172,  174,  176  ff.,  179,  180; 
187,  189;  opens  Circulating 
Library,  168-171;  partners, 
171,  1  88;  advertisements, 
185;  accuses  Harris  and  Ash 
of  plagiarism,  181  ;  new  lines 
of  business,  185-186;  print- 
ing business,  1  87  ;  offices  held, 
187;  farming  and  sheep  rais- 
ing, 1  88;  travels,  189;  meets 
H.  M.  Brackenridge,  193; 
mercantile  instincts,  196;  op- 
poses moral  wrong,  204;  con- 
demns horse  racing,  204;  on 
whisky  drinking,  205;  death, 
205 

Cramer,  Mrs.  Zadok,  206 
Cramer's  Almanac,   172-174 
Culture,  3,  4,  26,  184  ff. 
Cumberland  County,  2 
Cuming,  F.,  Tour  of  the  West- 
ern Country,  192-193 

Dancing,  67-69,  154 
Davis,  Joseph,  131,  154 
Declary,  Peter,  69 
"Democratic"  party,  54 
'  '  Democratic         Republican  '  ' 

party,  54 
Denny,  Major  Ebenezer,  131, 


Denny  &  Beelen,  150,  151 
Dent,  Julia,  153 
Dobbins  &  McElhinney,  no 
Dress,  Freemasons',  12;  men's, 

65-67 

Drinking,  80-82 
Duane,  William,  51 
Dubac,  Gabriel,  Chevalier,  48, 

in 

Du  Lac,  Perrin,  64 
Dunlap  (James)  &  Co.,  155 
"Dutch,  "43,  44 

Echo,  The,  197-198 
Education,  in  early  days,  3-4; 

schools  established,  14;  high- 

er, 17 
Eichr  um,  William,  40,  41,  79 


Eichbaum,  William,  Jr.,  188- 

189 
Emigration  westward,  through 

Pittsburgh,  6-8,  29,  175,  179 
Emmert,  Mrs.  Joseph,  206 
Emmett,  Samuel,  30,  80 
English  language,  38,  40 
English-speaking     population, 

3.8,  40 

Episcopalians,  93,  94 
Ewalt,  Samuel,  41,  96,  104,  130 

Farmers'  dress,  66 

Federal  party,  opposition  to, 
52-53,  541  supporters  of,  62, 
76,  131-132;  emblem  of,  74- 
76;  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, 165 

Ferree,  Thomas,  13,  157-158 

Ferries,  over  Monongahela 
River,  29, 42 ;  over  Allegheny 
River,  30;  and  taverns,  80 

Food,  63,  64 

Forman,  Major  Thomas  S.,  35 

Fort  Fayette,  33 

Fort  Pitt,  9,  10,  31,  33 

Fort  Stanwix,  8 

Forward,  Walter,  141-142 

Fowler,  General  Alexander, 
commander  of  militia,  74; 
republican,  75;  left  Republi- 
can party,  127;  controversy 
with  Gazzam,  128-130 

Francis,  Tench,  5 

Freemasons,  first  lodge  in 
Western  country,  n;  start 
temperance  movement,  95- 
96;  See  also  Lodge  45 

French,  38;  emigration  of,  51- 

52 
French  influence,  46,  51,  65, 

199 

French  language,  39 
French  radicalism,  influence  of, 

53 

Freneau,  Philip,  26 
"Friends  of  the  People,"  140 
Fulton  &  Baird,  121,  130 

Gallatin,  Albert,  57,  162;  glass 
factory,  32,  122;  political 


212 


Index 


Gallatin,  Albert — Continued 
honors,  46-47, 125 ;  at  Marie's 
tavern,     49;     on     Western 
Pennsylvania,  52;  candidate 
for  Congress,  55 

Gallitzen,  Demetrius  Augus- 
tine, 94 

Gazzam,  William,  121;  con- 
troversy with  Fowler,  128- 
130 

German  church,  organized,  10; 
conducts  schools,  14,  186; 
treasurer,  42;  followers,  40, 

45 

German  language,  39,  40,  45, 
1 86 

German  Farmers'  Register,  The, 
newspaper,  45 

Germans,  38;  organize  church, 
10;  second  in  numbers  to 
English,  40;  confused  with 
the  Dutch,  43,  44;  social 
intercourse,  45;  establish 
newspaper,  45;  and  religion, 

83 

Gilkison,  John  C.,  bookseller, 
27,  163;  prothonotary,  59, 
163;  starts  library,  168 

Glass  factories,  32,  92 

Grant's  Hill,  pleasure  ground, 

49,  70-71,  77 

"Grant's  Hill,     tavern,  49,  50 
Gregg's  (Isaac)  Ferry,  30 


Hall,  Joseph,  14 
Hamilton,  report  on  manufac- 
tures, 91 

Hamsher,  John,  40,  41,  155 
Hancock,  Richard,  122,  125 
Hannastown,  2;  attacked  by 
British  and  Indians,  II    43, 

58 

Harmar,  General  Josiah,  151 
Harris,  Joseph,  157 
Harris,  Rev.  Thaddeus  Mason, 

181 

"Hartford  Wits,"  197 
Haymaker,  Jacob,  40,  42,  126 
Henderson,  Rev.  Matthew,  57 
Henderson,  Robert,  30,  80 


Herald  of  Liberty,  newspaper, 

62 

Herd,  William,  121 
Herron,  Rev.  Francis,  83-84 
Hilliard,   Elizabeth  Baustnan, 

125-126 

Hilliard,  James,  125,  126 
Horse     racing,     72-73;     con- 
demned, 203-204 
Houses,    construction,    31    ff., 
101;    numbered,    33;    com- 
forts in,  63 

Hufnagle,  Michael,  43,  96 
Hughes,  Rev.  James,  190 
Hutchins,  Capt.  Thomas,  175- 
176;  Topographical  Descrip- 
tion of  Pennsylavnia,  Mary- 
land, and  Virginia,  175 

Imlay,  Gilbert,  North  America, 

176 
Incorporation    of    Pittsburgh, 

24 

Indians,  the  Penns'  dealings 
with,  6;  treaty  with,  8;  at- 
tack Hannastown,  1 1,  43; 
recede  westward,  13 

Industries,  91-93 

Insurgents,  71,  81,  119-120; 
conference  with,  123-125 

Irish,  38,  55 

Irish,  Nathaniel,  130,  153 

Iron  industries,  91-^92 

Irvine,  General  William,  123 

Irwin,  Captain  John,  96,  107, 

154 

Irwin,  William,  69, 96, 107, 154 
Israel,  John,  62,  141,  187 
Italians,  38 

Jackson,  Andrew,  doctrine,  58 

"Jacobins,"  56 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  radical 
ideas  of  liberty,  53-54;  recep- 
tion of  these  ideas  in  Penn- 
sylvania, 54-55;  Republican 
dinner  in  honor  of,  56-57, 
1 08;  presidential  election  of, 
165-167;  Notes  on  the  State 
of  Virginia,  200 

Jockey  Club,  72,  79 


In<jex 


213 


Johnson,  John, 117 
Jones,  Ephraim,  29,  80 
Jones,    Samuel,    35,    108;    on 

social  life,  71-72 
Jones  &  Laughlin  Steel  Co., 

148 
Justices  of  the  peace,  101 

Kramer,  Baltzer,  32 
Kramer,  Christian,  32 

Land,  sales  of,  5-6, 100 

Lawlessness,  25 

Laws,  24 

Lee,   General   Henry,  59,  69, 

US 
"Lee,     Light-Horse     Harry," 

59 

Lee,  Rev.  Wilson,  78 

Lewis  and  Clark  expedition, 
179 

Liberty,  new  ideas  of,  53 

Libraries,  private,  14;  cir- 
culating, 16,  19,  168-171 

Liquors,  64;  manufacture  and 
sale  of,  77-79;  drinking  of, 
80-82 

"Lodge  45  of  Ancient  York 
Masons, "  first  masonic  lodge 
in  Pittsburgh,  n;  observ- 
ance of  St.  John  the  Bap- 
tist's Day,  12;  observance  of 
St.  John  the  Evangelist's 
Day,  13,  108;  meeting  place, 
78,  95i  155;  temperance 
movement,  95-96;  secretary, 
108 

Louisiana  Purchase,  furthers 
trade,  90;  and  the  Navigator, 
179 

Lucus/John  B.  C.,  47-48,  151 

Luxuries,  63-64 

McClurg,  Joseph,  122,  128,  130 
McKean,  Thomas,  108,  118; 
turns  Republican,  54,  56; 
candidate  for  Governor,  57, 
140;  takes  office,  58;  recom- 
mends militia  emblem,  75; 
Commissioner  to  meet  In- 
surgents, 123;  reappoints 


Tannehill,  131;  vetoes  revo- 
lutionary bills,  138;  refuses 
to  remove  Brackenridge,  139 ; 
supporters  and  opponents  of, 
140, 141 ;  alluded  to  by  Bruce, 
196 

McLane,  D.,  34 

McLaughlin,   Alexander,    132, 

153 
McMillan,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  57, 

81 

McNickle,  A.,  130 
Madison,  James,  57 
Magazine  Almanac,  174 
Magee,  Samuel,  121 
Magee,  Thomas,  121 
Mail  robbed,  119 
Map  of  Pittsburgh  published, 

192 

Marie,  John,  49,  50 
Marie,  Mrs.  John  (Jane),  di- 
vorce case,  50-51 
Marie's  tavern,  56,  75 
Market  House,  155 
Market  Street,  96-98,  99,  104 
Mechanical  Society  of  Pitts- 
burgh, 17-19,  78,  187 
Mellish,  John,  181 
Methodists,  94-95,  201 
Michaux,  Dr.  F.  A.,  48,  50 
Mifflin,  Thomas,  54,  56 
Military    plan    of    the    town, 

30-31 

Military  spirit,  74 
Militia  of  Pennsylvania,  74-77 
Modern    Chivalry,   by   H.    H. 

Brackenridge,  26 
Money,  circulation  of,  15,  28- 

29 

Montpcnsier,  Duke  of,  1 1 1 
Moore,     Hamilton,     Practical 

Navigator,  182 
Moreau,  Jean  Victor,  199 
Morgan,   General  Daniel,  69, 

115-116 

Morrow,  William,  12,  79 
Morse,     Jedidiah,     American 

Gazetteer,  176 

Mowry,  Dr.  Peter,  114,  132 
Murphy,  Mrs.  Mary  (Molly), 

122, 152 


Index 


Nail  factories,  92,  93 
National  currency  established, 

99 

National  Gazette,  51 

Nationalities  in  Pittsburgh,  38 

Navigator,  174,  187;  sources 
of  its  material,  175,  176,  178; 
various  editions,  176-182; 
advertised,  177;  local  in- 
formation in,  180-182 

Negley,  Alexander,  41 

Negley,  Jacob,  41 

Negroes,  38-39 

Neville,  Emily  Morgan,  144 

Neville,  General  John,  Free- 
mason, 95;  residence,  105; 
offices  held,  106;  Federalist, 

131 

Neville,  Morgan,  48 

Neville,  Colonel  Presley,  public 
offices,  105,  106;  residence, 
115;  saves  Brackenridge,  116 
Federalist,  131;  opinion  of 
Democrats,  144 

New  Era  in  1800,  90 

New  Orleans,  steamboat,  189 

Newspapers,  first,  14;  German, 
45;  see  also  Pittsburgh  Ga- 
zette and  Tree  of  Liberty 

Nicholson,  James  W.,  32 

"  Office  of  Discount  .and  De- 
posit,"  116 

O'Hara,  Colonel  James,  95, 
120, 131;  glass  manufacturer, 
32;  brewer,  78;  candidate  for 
burgess,  105 

Ohio  and  Mississippi  Navigator, 
176-177 

Ohio  River,  navigation  of,  7, 
176-178 

Orleans,  Duke  of,  in 

Onnbsy,  John,  78,  95 

Ormsby,  Oliver,  184 

Patterson,  Rev.  Joseph,  81 

Penn,  John,  4-5,  6 

Penn,  John,  Jr.,  4-5,  6 

Penn,  William,  4 

Penns,  the,  42,  98 

Pentland,  Ephraim,  editor  138; 


attacks  on  Bates  and  Bald- 
win, 145-147,  H9 
Peters,  Judge  Richard,  106 
Philadelphia,  post  route  from 

Pittsburgh,  17 
Pipe  manufactory,  92 
Pittsburgh  Academy,  17 
"Pittsburgh  Bookstore,"  116, 

163,  184,  186  ff. 
Pittsburgh  Circulating  Library, 

167-171 
Pittsburgh  Fire  Company,  24, 

130 

Pittsburgh  Gazette,  established, 
14;  and  politics,  56,  62,  133; 
contributors,  75;  in  religious 
revival,  85;  owner,  114; 
Cramer's  advertisement  in, 
162-163;  advertises  Naviga- 
tor, 177 
Pittsburgh  Library  Company, 

171 

"Pittsburgh"  manor,  5 
Pitt  Township,  23,  28 
Plan  of  town,  4,  5,  30-31 
Population,    in    1786,    9;    na- 
tionalities, 38;  in  1800  and 
1810,  90;  Protestant,  93 
Porter,  William,  122 
Post  office,  17,  114,  128 
Post  route,  17 
Practical  Navigator,  182 
Presbyterian    Church,    9,    10, 

83,  93,  94 

Printing  offices,  187 
Protestants,  10,  93-94 
Public  improvements,  98 
Publishing  business,  164,  184- 

185 

Race  horses,  73 

Reed,  John,  79,  157 

Reel,  Casper,  41 

Religion,  9-11,  82-83,  93;  re- 
vival, 84-85;  books  on,  191 

Republican  General  Assembly, 
radical,  138-139 

Republican  party,  headquar- 
ters, 50;  "Democratic  Re- 
publican," 54;  rapid  growth 
in  Pennsylvania,  55;  leader 


Index 


215 


Republican  party — Continued 
in  Pittsburgh,  55;  French 
influences,  55,  56;  influence 
on  dress,  65;  spoils  doctrine, 
58;  emblem,  75-76;  domi- 
nant throughout  country, 
132;  in  national  election, 
165-167 

Richards,  Charles,  39 

Richardson,  Dr.  Andrew,  Free- 
mason, 96,  108;  conducts 
drug  store,  107;  political 
leader,  108;  speech  on  Free- 
masonry, 108-109,  left  Re- 
publican party,  109-110; 
death,  no 

Riddle,  James,  96,  121,  128 

Robinson,  James,  30,  80 

Robinson  and  Ensell,  92 

Roman  Catholics,  94 

Ross,  James,  trouble  with  Mrs. 
Marie,  50-51;  candidate  for 
governor,  50,  37;  Freemason, 
96;  Commissioner  to  meet 
Insurgents,  123;  political 
leader,  131,  132 

Roup,  Jonas,  41 

St.  Clair,  General  Arthur,  151 

St.  John  the  Baptist's  Day, 
observance  of,  12-13 

St.  John  the  Evangelist's  day, 
observance  of,  12,  13,  108 

St.  Patrick's  Church,  94 

Schoepf,  Dr.  Johann  David,  7 

Schools,  4,  14,  50,  1 86 

Schultz,  Christian,  on  Naviga- 
tor, 181-182 

Scotch,  38 

Scott,  Dr.  Hugh,  96,  121,  128 

Scott,  John,  117 

Scott  &  Trotter,  120 

Scull,  John,  establishes  Pitts- 
burgh Gazette,  ,14-15;  post- 
master, 17;  printer,  26,  187; 
residence,  114;  attacks  on 
Brackenridge,  133-134 

Semple,  Samuel,  78 

Semple,  Steele,  116 

Semple,  William,  27,  115 

Shippinsburg,  2 


"Sign  of  the  Black  Bear,"  13, 

158 
"Sign  of  the  Cross  Keys,"  57, 

79 

"Sign  of  the  Franklin  Head," 
116,  164 

"Sign  of  General  Butler,"  125; 
and  social  affairs,  68;  name, 
122;  during  Whisky  Insur- 
rection, 123,  124;  political 
headquarters,  127 

"  Sign  of  General  Washington," 

34 
"Sign  of  the  Green  Tree,"  13, 

34,    68;    meeting    place    of 

masonic  lodge,  12,  96 
"Sign  of  the  Indian  Queen," 

79-80 

"  Sign  of  the  Negro, "  1212 
"Sign  of  the  Sheaf  of  Wheat," 

153 

"Sign  of  the  Waggon,"  68,  79, 

157 

Six  Nations,  treaty  with,  8 
Slavery,  38,  39,  41 
Smith,  Thomas,  130 
Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  44 
Smith  &  Shiras,  78 
Smur,  John,  126 
Snyder,  Simon,  50,  51,  140 
Social  life,  71-72,  77 
South  School,  50 
Spanish  milled  dollar,  99 
Spear  John,  171,  188,  206 
Spoils  doctrine,  58 
Steele,   Rev.   Robert,    13,   96, 
129;  dress,  66;  appointment, 

85 
Stevenson,    Dr.   George,    120- 

121; 131 

Stewart,  Thomas,  147,  149 
Stores,  102,  103,  116-117,  I2° 

ff.,  150,  154  ff.,  184 
Streets,  35,  98 
Sturgeon,  Jeremiah,  57,  79 
Supreme  Court,  118,  130,  139 
Swiss-Germans,  10,  38 

Tannehill,  Adamson,  130 
Tanneries,  92 
Tavern-keeping,  78,  79 


2l6 


Index 


Tavern  signs,  33-35 
Taverns,  33,  68,  77,  78 
Temperance  movement,  96 
Theatrical  performances,  69,  70 
Thorn,  William,  82-83 
Tinware  manufactory,  92 
Town  meetings,  102 
Town  officials,  101 
Townships,  23,  28 
Trade,  7,  102 
Trade  centre,  7,  29 
Transportation,  25,  93 
Tree  of  Liberty,  established,  62 ; 

contributors,  75;  office,  115; 

charge  against  editor,   127; 

in    politics,     132,     140;    in 

mourning,     149;    advertises 

Navigator,  177 
Tree    of  Sedition,   Blasphemy, 

and  Slander,  56 
Trees,  33,  97 
Trinity  Church,  93 
Turnbull,  William,  115 

United  States  Mint  authorized, 

99 

University  of  Pittsburgh,  17 

Vcech,  Judge  James,  on  whisky, 
80-81 

Wallace,  Judge  George,  117 
Washington,  George,  President, 

78,  123 

Washington  County,  22 
Water  Street  residences,  105- 

107 
Watson,  Andrew,  tavern,   18, 

117, 118 


Weber,  Rev.  Johann  Wilhelm, 

IO-II 

Welsh,  38 

Western  Gleaner,  The,  maga- 
azine,  193-195 

Westmoreland  County,  2,  22 

"Whale    and    the    Monkey," 
Sign  of,  34 
Whisky  Boys,"  81 

Whisky  Insurrection,  29,  59, 
1 06;  cause,  25,  77;  expedi- 
tion against,  29,  59;  at  its 
height,  119-120;  Govern- 
ment conference  with  In- 
surgents, 123-125 

Wilkins,  John,  117 

Willock,  Andrew,  Jr.,  153 

Wills,  Alexander,  158 

Wills,  James,  153 

Wills,  John,  158 

Wilson  and  Wallace,  sale  of 
books,  14 

Winebiddle,  Conrad,  41 

Wood,  John,  History  of  John 
Adams,  200 

Woods,  George,  5 

Woods,  General  John,  125, 
131,  132,  198 

Woods  (Wm.)  &  Company,  155 

Wrenshall,  John, local  preacher, 
84,  201;  Farewell  to  Pitts- 
burgh and  the  Mountains,  153; 
bookstore,  184 

Wusthoff,  William,  41,  96 

Yeaman,  James,  78,  158 
Yeates,  Jasper,  123,  130 
"Young      Messenger,"      race 
horse,  73,  79 


A     000679139     6 


